LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


OFs 


a   - 
Class 


CONSCIENCE 


BY 


GEORGE  WINSTON  REID 

I/ 


"  No  intellectual  man  will  enter  on  any  study  for  its  own 
sake,  but  only  with  a  view  to  advance  himself  in  that  one  sole 
science  which  embraces  all." — PLATO. 


NEW  YORK 
W.  F.  BRAINARD,  PUBLISHER 


/7 


COPYRIGHT,  1905, 

BY 
W.  F.  BRAINARD 


TO   MY   FATHER 
THIS    BOOK    IS    AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED. 


134957 


PREFACE. 

To  my  sister  Florence  my  thanks  are  due,  for  her 
constant  encouragement  and  assistance  during  the 
composition  of  this  work. 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction ix 

I.     Matter,  or  the  Science  of  Chemistry     .  1 

II.     Energy,  or  the  Science  of  Physics     .      .  21 

III.  The  Heavenly  Bodies,  or  the  Science  of 

Astronomy 46 

IV.  Life,  or  the  Science  of  Biology   ...  73 
V.     Consciousness,   or  the   Science   of  Psy- 
chology            ...  103 

VI.     Conscience,  or  Scientific  Philosophy     .  147 


v» 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

INTRODUCTION. 

One  summer  night  the  steamer  upon  which  we  had 
embarked  for  a  visit  to  Japan's  beauty-renowned 
Inland  Sea  was  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  Kobe. 
The  dark  waters  were  streaked  here  and  there  with 
the  bright  reflections  of  the  lights  of  many  vessels; 
fantastic  lanterns  of  the  natives  gleamed  in  the  town 
that  stretched  along  the  shore  of  the  harbor;  low 
mountains  in  the  background  of  the  town  cast  their 
deep  shadows;  and  overhead  myriads  of  stars  shed 
their  faint  light  upon  the  night  scene.  Several  hours 
after  I  had  retired,  I  was  awakened  by  the  steamer's 
starting  upon  its  course,  and  went  to  the  port-hole 
for  a  parting  glance  at  Kobe.  How  transformed  the 
scene !  A  portion  of  the  town  was  in  flames !  In  place 
of  the  many  pale  lights  in  the  darkness,  one  great  mass 
of  fire  now  stood  forth,  and  shed  a  weird  glare  upon 
the  surroundings.  High  above  the  roofs  of  dwellings 
and  temples  swept  the  fiery  element,  majestic,  irre- 
sistible, claiming  all  in  its  path  as  its  own.  The 
steamer  soon  turned  and  the  town  could  no  longer 
be  seen.  But  on  the  eastern  horizon  there  appeared 
another  streak  of  flame :  in  a  short  time  the  sun  rose 
above  the  surface  of  the  sea,  as  a  great  ball  of  fire. 
The  same  element  that  had  just  before  been  seen 
as  the  power  of  transformation  and  destruction,  now 

ix 


x  Introduction. 

shone  in  all  its  dazzling  glory  as  the  kindly  source 
of  light  and  of  life  to  the  earth. 

As  never  before  I  felt  the  presence  in  Nature  of 
a  force  that  was  overwhelmingly  grand  and  mys- 
terious. What  was  this  power  which  could  trans- 
form and  destroy  all  things,  and  yet,  in  the  sun,  could 
give  us  our  very  life?  Fire  is  the  power  of  crea- 
tion as  well  as  of  destruction.  If  all  things  can  be 
transformed  by  fire  into  its  own  nature,  then  all  things 
have  sprung  from  fire.  The  universe  has  arisen  as 
transformations  of  nebula3  of  fire  in  space. 

"  Science  has  as  yet  furnished  no  explanation  for 
the  existence  of  force  or  matter.  The  appearance  of 
life  in  the  world  is  just  as  unexplained  and  baffling 
as  the  presence  of  force  and  matter  themselves.  But 
life  probably  existed  in  the  cosmos  long  before  con- 
sciousness, and  the  advent  of  consciousness  is  again 
as  bewilderingly  unaccounted  for  as  that  of  life  or 
force  or  matter."  1 

"  The  hypothesis  that  light  is  transmitted  by  wave 
motion  .  .  .  evidently  necessitates  the  hypothesis 
of  a  medium  in  which  these  waves  are  propagated 
through  space.  Various  views  of  the  constitution  of 
this  medium — known  as  the  luminiferous  ether  — 
have  been  advanced  by  eminent  physicists.  Some  of 
the  properties  attributed  to  this  hypothetical  fluid  are 
so  anomalous  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  mind 
to  conceive  the  existence  of  such  a  medium.  .  .  . 
'  The  luminiferous  ether  pervading  all  space  is  not 

i  Kelly,  Evolution  and  Effort, 


Introduction.  xi 

only  highly  elastic,  but  absolutely  solid.'  Now,  as 
our  finite  minds  cannot  grasp  the  idea  of  a  solid 
which  is  impalpable  to  the  touch  and  invisible  to 
our  sight  —  as  the  ether  evidently  is — any  theory 
which  would  relieve  us  from  the  necessity  of  imagin- 
,ing,  or  trying  to  imagine,  such  an  anomalous  sub- 
stance should  be  very  acceptable  to  our  finite  intelli- 
gence." *  If  one  is  justified  in  doubting  the  exist- 
ence of  the  hypothetical,  illogical  substance  "  lumin- 
iferous  ether  "  as  an  object  of  the  external,  physical 
world,  then  light  itself  becomes  a  physical  reality 
and  substance.  "  A  reality  is  something  that  exists 
of  itself  and  in  its  own  right,  and  not  merely  as  a 
modification  of  something  else.  It  is  consequently 
something  that  does  not  require  anything  else  in 
order  to  be  conceived."  2  Light,  fire,  or  luminous 
heat,  once  recognized  as  a  reality  and  a  substance,  is 
found  to  be  the  First  Cause  or  common  source  of 
Matter,  Energy,  Life  and  Consciousness.  Then  fire 
or  heat  is  the  original  substance  from  which  all  other 
forms  of  matter  have  been  evolved  in  space.  Heat 
is  actually  the  force,  the  energy  of  Nature.  The  mys- 
terious electricity  is  none  other  than  this  subtle  sub- 
stance heat.  Man's  superiority  over  the  brute 
creation  and  his  civilization  began  when  first  he 
learned  the  power  of  fire :  —  when,  according  to  the 
myth,  Prometheus  stole  fire  from  the  heavens  that 
man  might  borrow  its  strength.  Heat  is  the  very 

1  Gore,  Light,  Electricity,  and  the  Ether. 

2  Strong,  Why  the  Mind  has  a  Body. 


xii  Introduction. 

life-force  and  is  conscious  energy:  the  currents  that 
flow  along  the  nerves  and  through  the  brains  of  or- 
ganisms are  currents  of  electricity  or  heat. 

At  present  there  is  a  separate  science  for  matter, 
chemistry;  for  energy,  physics;  for  life,  biology; 
for  consciousness,  psychology;  each  of  these 
separate  sciences  studying  some  one  special  part  of 
nature.  But  nature  is  a  whole  and  constitutes  the 
universe.  There  is  then  a  science  of  the  sciences, 
the  science  of  nature  considered  as  a  unity, —  scien- 
tific philosophy.  Heat  is  the  common  bond  of  the 
separate  sciences,  and  binds  them  into  one  science. 
Since  the  Latin  "  cum  "  or  "  con  "  signifies  "  to- 
gether," the  sciences  united  or  the  philosophy  of  the 
sciences  may  be  called  "  Conscience."  Man  is  mere- 
ly a  part  of  nature,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  universe 
reveals  to  him  the  place  he  occupies  in  the  natural 
system.  Man  deduces  from  his  knowledge  of  na- 
ture's relation  to  him  what  ought  to  be  his  adapted 
reaction  or  conduct  to  the  world.  Human  knowl- 
edge of  the  external  world  is  the  means  to  the  end, 
conduct,  "  Truth  is  not  holiness.  The  human  soul 
was  made  to  turn,  by  the  subtle  chemistry  of  its 
digestive  experience,  truth  into  goodness."  *  Con- 
science or  knowledge  of  the  outer  world  becomes 
transformed  in  man  into  conscience  or  knowledge  of 
how  he  ought  to  conduct  himself  toward  this  external 
world.  Nature  is  the  cosmos,  man  the  microcosm; 
the  external  world  is  the  vast  Original  of  which  man's 

i  Phillips  Brooks. 


Introduction.  xiii 

mind  becomes  a  little  reproduction,  a  conscious  force 
that  aims  to  imitate  the  World-Thinker  and  Will. 

A  scientific  philosophy  arises  from  the  two  mental 
processes  of  analysis  and  synthesis.  There  must  be 
an  examination  and  analysis  of  the  various  facts  of 
nature  discovered  by  the  separate  sciences,  and  a 
synthesis  of  these  numerous  truths  into  one  whole. 
This  book  will  consist  of  a  synthesis  of  many  scien- 
tific facts  which  are  introduced  mainly  in  the  form 
of  quotations  from  recognized  authorities.  The  orig- 
inal part  of  the  work  will  be  the  synthesis  of  these 
many  truths  into  a  philosophy  through  heat  as  the 
bond  of  all  things.  The  purpose  of  the  first  five 
chapters  is  to  show  that  in  each  of  the  five  sciences 
heat  is  the  all-important  factor.  Heat  is  then  made 
the  foundation  for  the  scientific  philosophy  of  the 
last  chapter.  The  theory  of  knowledge  is  not  dwelt 
upon,  since  "  Nature  herself  is  what  science  ex- 
plores and  studies,  not  the  mere  domain  of  human 
'  representation  ' ;  consciousness  is  the  means  it  uses, 
but  knowledge  of  consciousness  is  not  the  end  it 
seeks  and  attains."  1 

"  The  goal  of  science  is  clear  —  it  is  nothing  short 
of  the  complete  interpretation  of  the  universe.  But 
the  goal  is  an  ideal  one  —  it  marks  the  direction  in 
which  we  move  and  strive,  but  never  a  stage  we  shall 
actually  reach."  2 

1  Abbot,  Scientific  Theism. 

2  Pearson,  Grammar  of  Science. 


CONSCIENCE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

MATTER,  OB  THE  SCIENCE  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

Chemistry  being  the  science  of  matter,  the  con- 
tribution which  this  science  offers  towards  a  scien- 
tific philosophy  concerns  the  question  of  the  origin 
and  relations  of  the  various  forms  of  matter. 

Chemistry  has  shown  that  matter  as  we  know  it 
on  our  globe  can  be  reduced  to  about  seventy  sub- 
stances called  the  elements.  As  no  human  means 
can  further  simplify  them,  these  substances  have 
come  to  be  considered  as  truly  elementary  or  ulti- 
mate. Every  substance  on  the  earth  is  either  one 
of  the  elements  or  a  compound  of  two  or  more  of 
them.  The  first  step  in  tracing  the  origin  of  mat- 
ter, then,  is  to  consider  all  compound  substances  as 
dissociated,  or  converted  by  heat  back  to  their  ele- 
ments. All  earthly  matter  will  then  be  in  the  form 
of  the  seventy  elements. 

The  three  states  of  matter  are  the  solid,  liquid 
and  gaseous.  But  the  physicists  have  shown  that 
sufficient  heat  will  convert  all  solids  into  liquids,  and 
still  greater  heat  will  convert  all  liquids  into  gases. 
We  know  with  certainty  that  the  earth  was  once  in 


2  Conscience. 

a  much  hotter  condition  than  it  is  at  present.  If 
the  seventy  elements  that  constitute  matter  on  our 
planet  were  heated  sufficiently,  we  should  then  have 
all  earthly  substance  in  the  form  of  the  gases  or 
vapors  of  the  elements. 

Still  greater  heating  of  these  seventy  gases  of  the 
elements  would  give  us  seventy  glowing  or  luminous 
gases.  This  is  as  far  as  our  intensest  artificial  heat- 
ing can  convert  matter.  But  just  at  this  point  the 
spectroscope  comes  to  our  aid,  and  enables  us  to  com- 
bine terrestrial  and  celestial  chemistry.  The  light 
emitted  by  our  seventy  glowing  gases  can  be  an- 
alyzed by  the  spectroscope  and  compared  with  the 
light,  similarly  analyzed,  of  heavenly  bodies.  Per- 
haps the  earlier  history  of  the  glowing  gases  of  our 
so-called  elements  can  be  traced  in  some  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  that  are  younger  than  the  earth. 

The  spectroscope  "  enables  us  to  study  the  light 
that  comes  from  distant  objects,  to  read  therein  a 
record,  more  or  less  complete,  of  their  chemical  com- 
position and  physical  conditions."  *  When  a  ray  of 
the  sun's  light  passes  through  the  spectroscope,  we 
obtain  the  solar  spectrum :  "  a  bright  band  is  seen 
stretching  from  red  to  violet,  but  this  band  is  cut  up 
by  a  very  large  number  of  fine  black  lines.  These 
lines  are  always  present,  and  always  occupy  the  same 
relative  position  in  the  solar  spectrum, —  they  are, 
in  fact,  shadows  in  the  sunlight."  2  The  cause  of 

i  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 
aRoscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  3 

these  shadows  has  been  discovered  through  experi- 
ment. "  By  passing  the  light  from  incandescent 
sodium  through  the  vapor  of  the  metal  the  bright 
yellow  double  line  is  changed  to  a  dark  one.  If  the 
solar  atmosphere  contain  the  vapors  of  sodium,  of 
iron,  of  magnesium,  of  calcium,  etc.,  in  the  state  of 
glowing  gas,  and  if  white  light  from  the  incandes- 
cent mass  beneath  pass  through  these  vapors,  the 
effect  produced  would  be  exactly  that  which  is  in 
fact  observed."  1  Thus  science  has  discovered  the 
fact  that  there  exist  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  sun 
many  of  our  terrestrial  elements  in  the  state  of  glow- 
ing gases,  and  that  a  white  light  comes  from  the 
nucleus  of  the  sun  and  is  sifted  through  these  ele- 
ments that  form  the  solar  atmosphere  over  the 
nucleus. 

We  find  then  in  the  solar  atmosphere  the  glowing 
vapors  or  flames  of  many  of  our  so-called  elements. 
The  spectroscope  tells  us  that  these  flames  in  the 
sun's  atmosphere  are  not  as  intense  as  the  solar 
nucleus  which  is  at  white  heat  and  emits  white  light ; 
for  the  atmospheric  flames  do  not  outshine  the  white 
nucleus,  but,  on  the  contrary,  are  shadows  in  this 
white  light.  The  sun  is  now  considered  by  some 
scientists  as  gaseous  throughout.  Then  the  nucleus 
of  the  sun  may  be  glowing  white  gas,  white  flame,  a 
subtle  primordial  substance,  from  the  cooling  surface 
of  which  there  evolves  an  atmosphere  of  weaker,  col- 
ored flames  which  constitute  the  elements  out  of 

iRoscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 


4  Conscience. 

which  planets  are  formed.  The  various  elements  of 
the  earth-planet,  when  converted  into  glowing  vapors, 
become  flames  of  various  colors  and  hence  of  various 
intensities:  the  different  elements  may  then  be  dif- 
ferent stages  in  the  process  of  the  cooling  of  the 
primordial  white  flame.  As  white  heat  cools  into 
red  heat,  so  hydrogen,  the  lightest  element  of  the 
earth,  is  the  element  that  is  the  first  to  evolve  in  the 
solar  atmosphere,  as  a  red  flame  resting  directly 
above  the  sun's  white  nucleus;  whereas  iron  vapor 
which  is  green  and  is  a  flame  of  less  intensity  than 
red  flame,  appears  in  the  outer,  cooler  portions  of 
the  evolving  atmosphere. 

The  universe  of  matter  could  then  have  arisen 
from  the  entering  of  nebulae  of  concentrated  white 
heat  into  the  void  we  call  space.  The  concentrated 
substance  would  continually  radiate  or  diffuse  into 
space  some  of  its  surface  heat,  leaving  the  surface 
less  intense  and  concentrated  or  a  forming  atmos- 
phere of  weaker  flames  or  elements.  The  solar 
atmosphere,  cast  off  from  the  nucleus  to  form  a 
planet,  would  continue  to  lose  heat  through  radia- 
tion, and  its  glowing  elements  would  cool  into  non- 
luminous  gases,  liquids  and  solids,  and  would  enter 
into  various  chemical  combinations,  giving  rise  to 
the  various  forms  of  matter  that  we  have  on  the 
earth-planet. 

The  ancients  emphasized  the  fourth  state  of  mat- 
ter, luminous  gas  or  flame,  which  modern  scientists 
overlook.  If  we  take  earth,  water,  air  and  fire,  not 


The  Science  of  Matter.  5 

as  elements  as  did  the  ancients,  but  as  synonyms  for 
solid,  liquid,  gaseous  and  luminous  matter,  we  may 
say  with  Marcus  Aurelius,  "  Let  that  of  Heraclitus 
never  be  out  of  thy  mind,  that  the  death  of  earth  is 
water,  and  the  death  of  water  is  air,  and  the  death 
of  air  is  fire;  and  so  on  the  contrary.7'  In  the  lan- 
guage of  Emerson,  "  Water  dissolves  wood  and  iron 
and  salt;  air  dissolves  water;  electric  fire  dissolves 
air ;"  while  on  the  contrary,  rock  "  is  firm  water,  it 
is  cold  flame."  Considering  then  the  flame  state  of 
the  elements,  we  are  led  to  conclude  that  these  col- 
ored flames  are  various  stages  of  cooling  of  one 
primordial  white  flame.  From  the  solid  matter  on 
the  earth  we  can  arrive  at  the  elementary  flames  in 
the  sun's  atmosphere  merely  by  adding  the  heat  lost 
through  radiation.  Is  it  not  natural  to  conclude 
that  still  further  addition  of  heat  to  these  colored 
flames  will  give  the  intensest  flame,  white  heat? 

Let  us  briefly  consider  what  evidence  the  present 
condition  of  the  heavenly  bodies  furnishes  in  sup- 
port of  the  theory  that  the  matter  of  the  earth 
planet  has  been  gradually  evolved  from  a  primordial 
white  flame.  Is  it  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  youngest 
heavenly  bodies  are  composed  entirely  of  white  flame, 
and  that  more  and  more  elements  evolve  in  the  at- 
mospheres or  cooling  surfaces  of  heavenly  bodies  as 
they  become  older  and  more  advanced  in  the  cooling 
process  ? 

The  nebula?  are  the  youngest  bodies  in  the  heavens 
at  present,  according  to  the  nebular  hypothesis  which 


6  Conscience. 

modern  astronomy  accepts;  these  heavenly  bodies 
have  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  development  of 
solar  systems.  "  The  white  nebulae,  the  nebula  of 
Andromeda  at  their  head,  give  only  a  continuous 
and  perfectly  expressionless  spectrum,  unmarked  by 
any  lines  or  bands,  either  bright  or  dark."  *  These 
nebulas  with  their  pure  white  light  have  no  at- 
mospheres that  cast  shadows  in  this  light,  as  is  proven 
by  the  absence  of  dark  lines  in  the  spectrum ;  nor  are 
there  rarefied  gases,  as  the  absence  of  bright  bands 
indicates.  We  conclude  that  the  matter  of  the  white 
nebulaB  is  the  primordial,  concentrated  white  flame 
which  has  not  yet  become  rarefied  on  its  surface  and 
has  not  yet  evolved  an  atmosphere.  Observations 
made  on  the  nebula  of  Perseus,  when  the  new  star 
of  February,  1901,  was  being  watched,  give  further 
evidence  that  the  nebulous  matter  is  the  subtle  sub- 
stance white  heat  or  light.  The  rate  of  motion  of 
the  matter  of  this  nebula  exceeded  "  anything  known 
in  the  stellar  universe  before,  the  motion  . 
approximating  that  of  light.  .  .  .  Now,  it  has 
recently  been  suggested  that  this  velocity  is  so  great 
as  to  make  it  doubtful  whether  the  observed  changes 
are  due  to  actual  motion  of  matter  at  all.  .  .  . 
According  to  Professor  G.  W.  Ritchie  the  result  of 
a  study  of  the  appearance  of  the  nebulous  masses  on 
the  photographs  suggests  that  there  is  actual  motion 
of  matter."  2  Then  the  matter  of  the  nebula  moves 

1  Young,  General  Astronomy. 

2  Mary  Proctor,  New  York  Herald,  Dec.  22,  1901. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  7 

with  the  velocity  of  light.  If  light  can  be  regarded 
as  a  substance  (the  proof  will  be  considered  in  the 
chapter  on  Energy),  we  may  logically  conclude  that 
this  swiftly  moving  substance  of  the  nebula  is  light 
itself.  We  know  that  light  is  radiated  into  space 
from  the  nebula;  the  whole  nebula  may  be  merely  a 
cloud  of  intense  white  light. 

Passing  to  a  consideration  of  the  second  stage  of 
nebulae,  we  find  nebulae  that  are  no  longer  white. 
These  nebulae  have  no  central  white  flame,  they  are 
merely  rarefied  luminous  gases.  What  has  become 
of  the  former  white  nucleus  ?  It  is  at  this  point  that 
we  begin  to  trace  the  evolution  of  suns  and  planets 
from  the  cooling  of  white  nebulae.  Atmospheres  of 
weaker,  colored  flames  evolve  on  the  surface  of  the 
white  flame  of  nebulae.  These  atmospheres,  when 
they  become  dense  and  heavy  as  a  result  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  many  elements,  are  cast  off  into  space  by  the 
swiftly  moving  white  nucleus.  These  cast-off  at- 
mospheres form  the  planets ;  while  the  white  nucleus 
forms  a  sun  and  again  begins  to  cool  on  its  new  sur- 
face and  forms  another  atmosphere.  In  due  time  this 
new  atmosphere  is  also  cast  off  and  evolves  into  an- 
other solar  planet,  the  white  nucleus  once  more  shin- 
ing in  the  heavens  as  a  white,  atmosphereless  star. 

It  is  to  these  atmospheres  gradually  evolving  on 
the  exposed  surface  of  the  primordial  white  flame 
that  we  must  look  for  the  history  of  the  elements 
that  constitute  matter  on  the  earth-planet.  Let  us 
see  what  is  the  nature  of  the  atmosphere  when  it  is 


8  Conscience. 

in  its  earliest  stage  of  formation.  "  So  far  the 
spectra  of  all  the  nebulae  that  show  lines  at  all  appear 
to  be  substantially  the  same.  Four  lines  are  usually 
easily  observed,  two  of  which  are  due  to  hydrogen; 
but  the  other  two,  which  are  brighter  than  the  hydro- 
gen lines,  are  not  yet  identified,  and  are  almost  cer- 
tainly due  to  some  element  not  yet  detected  on  the 
earth  or  sun,  and  are  apparently  peculiar  to  the 
nebula?."  *  Other  lines  have  been  photographed,  and 
"  the  lines  of  helium  are  generally  found  to  be  pres- 
ent." 2  Thus  the  red  flame  of  hydrogen  and  the 
yellow  flame  of  helium  evolve  in  the  atmosphere  be- 
fore flames  of  less  intensity,  as  one  would  expect  to 
be  the  case  if  the  various  elements  have  evolved  as 
different  stages  of  the  cooling  of  the  original  sub- 
stance. 

A  star  or  sun  is  the  nucleus  of  white  flame  left 
after  the  original  nebula  has  cast  off  its  atmosphere. 
A  new  atmosphere  at  once  begins  to  form.  We  find 
in  the  heavens  stars  that  have  these  new  atmospheres 
in  various  stages  of  evolution.  "  From  the  observa- 
tions of  Secchi  and  Yogel,  it  appears  that  the  stars 
may  be  divided  into  three  main  classes  according  to 
the  general  nature  of  the  spectra  which  they  present. 
In  those  of  the  first  class  metallic  vapors  are  absent 
from  the  atmosphere  of  the  star,  or  if  present  have 
only  a  very  slight  absorptive  power.  The  spectra  of 
such  stars  are  characterized  by  four  dark  lines  cor- 

1  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

2  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  9 

responding  in  position  to  the  bright  lines  of  hydro- 
gen, as  is  the  case  in  Sirius,  Vega,  and  most  white 
stars,  or  by  faint  dark  metallic  lines  unaccompanied 
by  strong  hydrogen  lines,  or  again  by  bright  hydrogen 
lines  as  well  as  the  bright  helium  line.  .  .  . 
The  second  group  contains  the  yellow  stars  such  as 
Pollux,  .  .  .  the  spectra  of  which  resemble 
that  of  the  sun,  containing  numerous  dark  lines  due 
not  only  to  hydrogen  but  also  to  metals.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  third  group,  which  comprises  the  red  and 
blue  stars,  ...  in  addition  to  some  dark  lines 
show  channelled-space  spectra,  which  are  probably 
due  to  the  presence  of  chemical  compounds  in  their 
atmospheres.  Some  of  the  stars  of  this  group  ap- 
pear to  contain  some  compound  of  carbon  in  the  in- 
candescent state."  * 

"  The  simpler  a  spectrum  is,  the  simpler  must  be 
the  composition  of  the  body  which  yields  that  spec- 
trum. Arguing  upon  these  premises,  Lockyer  con- 
cludes that  the  atmospheres  of  the  whiter  stars  con- 
tain, the  fewer  elements  and  those  of  smaller  atomic 
weight,  and  that  as  the  peculiar  color  of  the  star 
becomes  more  distinct  its  atmosphere  becomes  more 
complicated.  These  results,  coupled  with  the  well- 
known  fact  that  dissociation  of  chemical  compounds 
uniformly  takes  place  if  the  temperature  be  only  suf- 
ficiently high,  has  led  Lockyer  to  suggest  that  the 
heat  being  greatest  in  the  whitish  stars,  their  simple 
spectra  can  be  best  explained  by  the  existence  of  a 

i  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 


10  Conscience. 

temperature  sufficient  to  dissociate  the  substances  to 
which  on  this  earth  we  give  the  name  of  elementary 
bodies."  *  Lockyer  "  maintains  in  fact  that  none  of 
our  so-called  '  elements ?  are  really  elementary,  but 
that  all  are  decomposable,  and  are  to  some  extent 
actually  decomposed  in  the  sun  and  stars,  and  some 
of  them  by  the  electric  spark  in  our  own  laboratories. 
Granting  this,  many  interesting  and  remarkable  spec- 
troscopic  facts  find  easy  explanation."  2  "  The  ex- 
istence of  three  elements  on  some  celestial  bodies  and 
of  eighty  on  others,  according  to  density,  would  be 
without  explanation  were  not  the  elements  the  re- 
sult of  evolution.  The  periodicity  of  the  maxima 
and  minima  of  the  sun-spots,  in  connection  with  the 
appearance  of  the  spots  in  distinct  localities  only, 
and  the  difference  of  the  prominences  seem  to  point 
to  a  continual  formation  of  elements."  3 

The  sun,  since  it  is  the  nearest  star  to  the  earth, 
presents  the  best  field  for  a  study  in  detail  of  the 
order  in  which  the  various  elements  are  evolved  in 
the  star  atmospheres  from  the  primordial  white  flame. 
"  If  we  examine  the  prismatic  spectrum  with  a  very 
delicate  thermometer,  we  find  the  heat  increases  from 
the  violet  to  the  red  end."  4  Let  us  see  if  the  ele- 
ments in  the  solar  atmosphere  range  in  the  order  of 
their  relative  intensities, —  whether  a  red  flame  is 
found  nearest  to  the  white  nucleus,  and  a  violet  flame 

1  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 

2  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

3  Wendt ;  Venable,  Periodic  Law, 

4  Steele,  Popular  Physics, 


The  Science  of  Matter.  11 

at  the  outer  edge  of  the  atmosphere,  farthest  removed 
from  the  inner  white  flame.  If  this  were  so,  the  fact 
would  indicate  that  the  white  flame  has  gradually 
evolved  on  its  exposed,  radiating,  cooling  surface  into 
an  atmosphere  of  ever-weakening  flames. 

When  the  dazzling  white  nucleus  of  the  sun  is 
eclipsed  by  the  dark  body  of  the  moon,  the  solar  at- 
mosphere can  be  seen.  "  Within  the  corona,  around 
the  margin  of  the  disc,  variously  colored  prominences 
may  be  detected ;  and  fantastically-shaped  tongues  of 
red  flame  may  be  seen  to  dart  forth.  .  .  .  The 
red  flames  consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  gas 
hydrogen." *  Next  to  the  sun's  white  centre,  the 
element  hydrogen  appears  as  "  a  red  layer  which  en- 
velops the  sun."  2  "  The  hydrogen  is  too  hot  to 
burn  "  in  the  sense  of  uniting  chemically  with  some 
other  element  such  as  oxygen,  "  the  temperature  of 
the  solar  surface  being  above  that  of  '  dissociation ' ; 
so  high  that  any  compound  containing  hydrogen  would 
there  be  decomposed."  3  Next  to  the  hottest  part  of 
the  sun,  the  white  nucleus,  is  then  the  lightest  of 
earthly  elements  in  the  state  of  an  intense  red  flame. 

In  the  lower,  first-formed  portion  of  the  solar  at- 
mosphere we  find  the  red  flame  of  hydrogen  and  the 
yellow  flames  of  helium  and  calcium.  "  The  chro- 
mosphere and  prominences  are  composed  of  the  per- 
manent gases,  mainly  hydrogen  and  helium." 4 

1  Huxley,  Physiography. 

2  Lockyer,  The  Spectroscope. 

3  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 
*  Young,  General  Astronomy. 


12  Conscience. 

Some  astronomers  think  that  the  vapors  that  cause 
many  of  the  dark  lines  of  the  solar  spectrum  form 
a  reversing  layer  in  this  lower  part  of  the  atmos- 
phere. But  Lockyer  is  justified  in  questioning 
"  the  existence  of  any  such  thin  stratum,  or  f  re- 
versing layer.'  According  to  his  view,  the  solar 
atmosphere  is  very  extensive,  and  those  lines  of  the 
iron  spectrum  which,  as  he  holds,  correspond  to  the 
more  complex  combinations  of  its  constituents,  are 
formed  only  in  the  regions  of  lower  temperature,  high 
up  in  the  sun's  atmosphere."  *  "  The  spectrum  of 
a  sun  spot  differs  from  the  general  solar  spectrum  not 
only  in  its  diminished  brilliancy,  but  in  the  great 
widening  of  certain  lines  and  the  thinning  and  even 
'  reversing '  of  others,  especially  those  of  hydrogen. 
The  majority  of  the  Fraunhofer  lines,  however,  are 
not  sensibly  affected  either  way,  a  fact  which  Mr. 
Lockyer  quotes  as  evidence  that  they  originate  high 
up  in  the  solar  atmosphere."  2  Since  the  hydrogen 
lines  are  reversed  by  the  sun  spots,  these  spots  or 
less  brilliant  and  thus  less  intense  flames  of  elements 
evolve  higher  up  in  the  atmosphere  than  hydrogen. 
Towards  the  outer  edge  of  the  solar  atmosphere  we 
find  "  matter  excessively  rarefied  " ;  and  "  the  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  visual  spectrum  is  a  bright 
line  in  the  green.  .  .  .  The  line  is  really  a  close 
double,  one  of  its  two  components  being  due  to 


1  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

2  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  13 

iron.  .  .  .  Besides  this  conspicuous  green  line 
there  are  several  others  in  the  violet."  1 

To  the  question  concerning  the  origin  of  the  va- 
rious forms  of  matter  this  answer  may  then  be  given  : 
Merely  by  the  addition  of  heat,  all  substances  on  the 
earth  become  converted  into  about  seventy  luminous 
gases  or  flames  of  different  colors.  Intenser  heat 
would  resolve  these  colored  flames  into  white  flame, 
the  primordial  substance  of  the  universe.  Tracing 
matter  in  the  opposite  direction,  the  cooling  process, 
we  find  in  the  youngest  heavenly  bodies,  the  nebulae, 
the  concentrated  substance  white  heat,  just  begin- 
ning on  its  exposed  surface  to  diffuse  and  cool  in 
space.  We  can  trace  the  orderly  birth  of  the  so- 
called  elements  in  the  star-atmospheres  that  evolve  as 
cooling  surfaces  of  the  white  flame.  When  these  at- 
mospheres are  cast  off  from  the  white-hot  nucleus, 
they  become  planets;  and  their  colored  flames  cool 
and  give  rise  to  gases,  liquids  and  solids,  and  to  com- 
pound. substances. 

We  find  on  examination  that  heat  is  the  all-im- 
portant factor  in  the  study  of  matter.  It  is  intensity 
of  heat  that  determines  both  the  physical  and  the 
chemical  conditions  of  matter.  All  solids  become 
liquids,  liquids  gases,  and  gases  flames  when  suffi- 
ciently heated  ;  "  the  earth  we  stand  upon  .  .  . 
is  chemically  resolvable  into  gases  and  nebulae."  2 
Allotropism  or  "  the  occurrence  of  an  element  in 

Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


2  Emerson,  The  Preacher. 


14  Conscience. 

two  or  more  different  modifications  "  1  is  a  question 
of  heat.  For  example,  carbon  assumes  three  solid 
forms,  charcoal,  graphite  and  diamond.  "  When  the 
diamond  is  heated  between  the  carbon  poles  of  a 
powerful  electric  battery  it  swells  up  and  becomes 
converted  into  a  black  mass  of  graphite.77  2  Then 
diamond  heated  becomes  graphite,  or  diamond  is  a 
colder  stage  of  the  solid  state  of  the  element  carbon 
than  is  graphite.  "  It  is  found  that  the  change  of 
one  allotropic  form  of  a  substance  into  another  is 
always  accompanied  by  either  an  evolution  or  an  ab- 
sorption of  heat."  3 

Turning  to  a  consideration  of  the  part  that  heat 
plays  in  chemical  changes,  we  find  that  matter  is  in- 
destructible ;  that  heat  is  the  power  that  transforms 
it.  "  We  see  substances  destroyed  by  fire,  as  we  say. 
.  .  .  In  the  changes  referred  to  the  substances 
changed  disappear  as  such.  After  the  fire,  the  wood 
or  the  coal,  or  whatever  may  be  burned,  is  no  longer 
to  be  found.  The  rusted  iron  is  no  longer  iron. 
The  gunpowder  after  the  flash  is  no  longer  gun- 
powder. Changes  of  this  kind,  in  which  the  sub- 
stances disappear  and  something  else  is  formed  in 
their  place  are  known  as  chemical  changes."  *  Ox- 
idation or  the  usual  "  process  of  combustion  consists 
in  the  chemical  combination  of  oxygen  with  the  sub- 


iRemsen,  Chemistry. 

2  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 

3  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 
4Eemsen,  Chemistry. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  15 

stance  burned."  *  Combustion  is  not  limited,  how- 
ever, to  the  union  of  oxygen  with  substances.  When- 
ever any  two  substances  unite,  with  evolution  of  heat 
and  light,  to  form  a  new  substance,  we  have  the  proc- 
ess of  combustion.  Heat  is  given  off  whenever  sub- 
stances unite  chemically  to  form  compounds. 
"  Chemical  combination  is  always  accompanied  by 
an  evolution  of  heat."  2 

What  then  is  the  nature  of  chemical  union,  what  is 
the  force  of  '  chemical  affinity '  that  causes  elements 
to  combine  ?  If  all  the  elements  are  different  stages 
in  the  cooling  of  the  primordial  white  flame,  there  is 
a  difference  in  the  intensity  of  the  essence  heat  in  the 
different  elements.  Now  there  is  a  universal  tend- 
ency in  nature  towards  diffusion  of  heat  until  an 
equalization  of  temperature  is  reached :  a  hotter  sub- 
stance loses  heat  to  a  colder  one.  There  is  then  a 
difference  of  potential  between  any  two  elements  and 
a  current  of  heat  flows  from  one  to  the  other,  caus- 
ing attraction  or  chemical  affinity;  the  tendency  of 
the  elements  to  unite  or  blend  into  one  substance  is 
this  tendency  to  equalization  of  their  different  in- 
tensities of  the  essence  heat.  The  elements  are  at- 
tracted or  drawn  together  by  this  current  of  heat 
between  them,  flowing  from  the  hotter  to  the  colder, 
and  merge  into  a  stage  of  matter  between  the  two 
former  relatively  hot  and  cooler  elements.  The 
greater  the  difference  of  potential  between  two  ele- 

1  Remsen,  Chemistry. 
2Remsen,  Chemistry. 


16  Conscience. 

ments,  the  greater  the  current  of  heat  and  the  chem- 
ical affinity.  When  oxygen  gas  is  uniting  with 
liquid  or  solid  fuels,  the  gaseous  matter  and  not  the 
colder  fuels  is  the  source  of  the  heat  of  combustion. 
The  part  that  fuel  plays  is  merely  negative,  it  is  the 
cooler  body  which  is  needed  to  cause  a  flow  of  heat 
from  the  body  at  higher  potential ;  the  heat  evolved 
in  oxidation  was  not  stored  up  as  i  potential  energy  ? 
in  the  fuel,  but  comes  from  the  oxygen  gas.  The 
colder  the  stage  of  matter  with  which  oxygen  gas  is 
uniting,  the  greater  the  amount  of  heat  evolved  by 
the  oxygen,  for  the  greater  is  the  difference  of  poten- 
tial between  the  two  uniting  substances.  The  solids 
radium,  thorium  and  uranium  are  among  the 
heaviest,  last  evolved  and  coldest  of  the  elements; 
slow  oxidation  begins  in  them  when  once  exposed  to 
the  light,  and  the  difference  of  potential  between 
oxygen  gas  and  themselves  being  great,  luminous  heat 
is  evolved  by  the  oxygen  in  its  slow  union  with  them. 
The  Becquerel  rays  are  the  heat  of  slow  oxidation  of 
these  heavy  fuels. 

There  are  three  classes  of  chemical  reactions:  the 
combination  of  two  or  more  elements  into  a  com- 
pound, the  decomposition  of  a  compound  sub- 
stance into  two  or  more  elements,  and  "  the 
interaction  of  two  or  more  elements  or  com- 
pounds and  the  formation  of  two  or  more  com- 
pounds." In  those  reactions  where  compounds  dis- 
sociate into  elements,  heat  is  absorbed ;  in  those  where 

iRemsen,  Chemistry. 


The  Science  of  Matter.  17 

substances  unite  into  compounds,  heat  is  evolved. 
Heat  is  thus  seen  to  he  the  keynote  to  all  chemical 
changes,  the  cause  of  transformations  of  matter.  "  It 
has  heen  found  that  every  chemical  change  gives  rise 
either  to  an  evolution  or  to  an  absorption  of  heat, 
and  that  for  definite  quantities  of  the  same  sub- 
stances under  the  same  circumstances  the  same 
amount  of  heat  is  evolved  or  absorbed."  *  "A  defi- 
nite temperature  is  essential  for  the  occurrence  of 
chemical  action."  2  "  Chemical  action  in  general 
entirely  ceases  at  temperatures  approaching — • 
150°."  3 

"  The  sensible  universe  is  made  up  of  matter  and 
energy.  .  .  .  Under  the  influence  of  the  forms 
of  energy  the  forms  of  matter  are  constantly  under- 
going change." 4  Since  energy  is  the  subtle  sub- 
stance heat,  and  heat  is  the  primordial  substance  from 
which  the  various  forms  of  matter  evolve  as  different 
stages  in  the  cooling  of  this  substance,  either  absorp- 
tion or  evolution  of  some  of  this  essence  heat  by  sub- 
stances naturally  causes  transformations. 

We  should  expect,  if  it  is  true  that  the  elements 
have  evolved  as  various  stages  in  the  cooling  of  one 
substance,  to  find  that  there  are  certain  gradations  of 
properties  and  certain  close  relations  of  the  elements 
when  they  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  evolu- 
tion. Those  elements  that  have  flames  of  great  in- 

1  Remsen,  Chemistry. 

2  Richter,  Organic  Chemistry. 

3  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry, 
*  Remsen,  Chemistry. 


18  Conscience. 

tensity  naturally  evolved  before  those  of  less  intensity. 
By  reference  to  the  order  in  which  the  colors  come 
in  the  solar  spectrum,  as  a  scale  of  intensity  as 
related  to  color,  we  can  learn  of  the  relative  inten- 
sities of  the  variously  colored  flames  of  the  elements 
and  hence  of  the  order  in  which  they  were  evolved. 

The  first  elements  to  be  evolved  would  resemble 
in  properties  the  original  substance  in  a  greater  de- 
gree than  would  later  elements.  "Now  a  property  of 
the  subtle  substance  heat  is  imponderability.  Heat 
rises,  and  is  therefore  the  opposite  force  to  gravity 
or  downward  tendency  which  causes  weight.  We 
find  that  the  first-evolved  elements  are  the  lightest, 
and  that  elements  increase  in  weight  as  the  inten- 
sities of  their  colored  flames  decrease.  Hydrogen, 
the  flame  of  which  is  red,  is  the  lightest  element  of 
the  earth,  and  instead  of  falling  to  the  ground  as  do 
solids,  this  gas  rises  above  all  other  earthly  substances. 
Sodium,  which  can  be  converted  into  a  yellow  flame, 
is  heavier  than  hydrogen  and  lighter  than  gold,  the 
flame  of  which  is  green  in  color.  Gold  in  turn  is 
lighter  than  lead,  the  flame  of  which  is  blue. 

At  the  present  stage  of  cooling  of  the  earth,  only 
those  elements  are  still  gaseous  that  are  light  in 
weight,  that  is,  that  evolved  the  first;  they,  being  of 
intenser  heat  than  the  others,  still  retain  sufficient 
heat  to  be  in  the  gaseous  state.  Such  cold  as  would 
cause  hydrogen  gas  to  become  a  liquid  "  involves  the 
solidification  of  every  gaseous  substance  but  one  that 
is  at  present  definitely  known  to  the  chemist;  and 


The  Science  of  Matter.  19 

so  liquid  hydrogen  introduces  the  investigator  to  a 
world  of  solid  bodies."  Thus  hydrogen,  the  lightest 
of  the  elements  and  the  flame  of  which  is  the  in- 
tensest,  retains  enough  of  its  former  heat  to  be  in  the 
liquid  state  when  all  other  elements  have  changed 
into  solids. 

Mendelejeff  "  showed  that  when  the  elements  are 
arranged  in  order  of  their  atomic  weights,  they  may 
be  divided  into  groups,  in  each  of  which  a  similar 
gradation  of  properties  from  element  to  element 
occurs,  the  properties  of  the  elements  thus  appearing 
as  periodic  functions  of  the  atomic  weights."  Ryd- 
berg's  "  general  conclusions  were  that  ...  it 
is  only  the  atomic  weight  and  nothing  else  which 
governs  the  specific  gravities  and  melting  points  as 
well  as  expansion  coefficients,  refraction  equivalents 
and  in  short  all  the  known  physical  properties  of  the 
elements."  2  Since  the  elements  are  governed  by  a 
periodic  law  when  arranged  according  to  their  atomic 
weights,  many  chemists  have  considered  this  as  evi- 
dence of  some  fundamental  relation  between  the  ele- 
ments. Some  have  even  been  led  to  conclude  that 
they  were  various  stages  of  condensation  of  one 
primordial  element.  According  to  Hartley,  "  an 
atomic  weight  is  a  numerical  proportion.  There  are 
seventy  elements  and  seventy  atomic  weights  and 
these  represent  matter  in  seventy  different  states  of 


1  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 

2  Venable,  Periodic  Law. 

3  Venable,  Periodic  Law. 


20  Conscience. 

condensation."  3  Hence  the  theory  "  that  elementary 
species  have  been  formed  by  the  successive  condensa- 
tions of  a  primordial  substance  of  small  specific 
gravity  and  low  atomic  weight." *  Heat  is  the 
primordial  substance,  and  the  cooling  process  the 
cause  of  contraction  or  condensation  of  matter.  The 
greater  the  cooling,  that  is,  the  greater  the  quantity 
of  the  essence  heat  lost  by  radiation,  the  smaller  the 
quantity  of  matter  that  remains,  the  smaller  the  par- 
ticles or  atoms,  and  the  smaller  the  space  they  oc- 
cupy ; —  the  colder  that  matter  becomes,  the  more 
atoms  in  a  given  space  or  the  denser  the  substance 
becomes  through  contraction. 

i  Henry  Wilde,  On  the  Origin  of  Elementary  Substances. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ENERGY,  OB  THE  SCIENCE  OF  PHYSICS. 

"  Physics  is  that  branch  of  natural  science  which 
treats  of  transferences  and  transformations  of  en- 
ergy.77 *  The  all-important  truth  discovered  by  the 
science  of  physics  is  embodied  in  the  principle  of  the 
conservation  of  energy,  according  to  which  the  va- 
rious forms  of  energy  can  be  changed  one  into  an- 
other, and  in  this  transformation  no  energy  is  lost. 
Now  if  any  one  of  the  various  forms  of  energy  can 
be  proved  to  be  a  subtle  substance,  then  all  the  forms 
of  energy  are  substance.  For  by  the  fundamental 
principle  of  chemistry  matter  is  indestructible,  and 
thus  one  form  of  energy  that  is  a  substance  could  not 
be  changed  into  another  form  of  energy  that  is  not  a 
substance,  matter  could  not  become  that  which  is  not 
matter.  The  contribution  of  the  science  of  physics 
towards  a  scientific  philosophy  may  be  thus  stated: 
The  various  forms  of  energy  are  transformations  of 
one  and  the  same  subtle  substance  heat;  heat,  the 
essence  of  matter,  is  the  energy  and  power  of  the 
universe. 

"  Physics  is  the  science  of  mechanics,  heat,  sound, 
light,  electricity  and  magnetism.77  2  Physicists  have 

1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics. 

21 


22  Conscience. 

shown  that  sound  is  a  sensation  produced  by  the  ac- 
tion upon  the  nervous  system  through  the  end-organ 
the  ear,  of  waves  of  air  set  in  motion  by  a  vibrating 
body.  The  theory  will  here  be  presented  that  heat, 
light  and  electricity  are  one  and  the  same  subtle  sub- 
stance, and  that  motion  and  magnetism  are  properties 
of  this  substance. 

Let  us  consider  first  whether  heat,  light  and  elec- 
tricity are  or  are  not  matter.  Scientists  at  present 
hold  the  view  that  heat  and  light  are  not  substances, 
but  are  inclined  to  adopt  the  theory  that  electricity 
is  matter.  If  any  one  of  the  three  is  a  substance,  all 
three  are  matter,  since  they  can  be  converted  one  into 
another.  "  There  has  been  a  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  whether  electricity  is  or  is  not  a  substance.  A  cen- 
tury ago,  when  heat  and  light  were  believed  to  be 
weightless  fluids,  electricity  was  classed  with  them  as 
a  substance.  Later,  when  it  was  shown  that  heat 
and  light  were  not  substances,  but  were  (  modes  of 
motion/  in  which  the  particles  of  matter  are  involved, 
the  notion  gained  currency  that  electricity  was  a 
mode  of  motion,  rather  than  a  substance  by  itself. 
During  recent  years  belief  in  the  existence  of  electric 
substance,  or  substances,  has  been  growing  again." 
"  Unlike  heat,  light  and  sound,  electricity  is  not  in 
itself  a  form  of  energy;  nor  is  it  a  form  of  matter 
in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  the  term."  2 

Is  Tieat  a  substance?       A  century  ago  the  answer 

1  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics. 

2  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  23 

would  have  been  that  heat  is  a  substance,  to  which 
the  name  caloric  is  given.  To-day  science  answers 
that  heat  can  be  changed  into  motion,  and  is  there- 
fore not  a  substance  but  is  merely  motion  of  the 
molecules  of  matter.  "  Eumford  was  led  to  investi- 
gate the  nature  of  heat  from  noticing,  in  the  work- 
shops at  Munich,  how  hot  the  cannon  became  while 
boring.  There  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to  the  amount 
of  heat  which  could  be  produced,  yet  the  cannon,  the 
borer  and  the  chips  lost  nothing,  so  far  as  he  could 
detect.  If  heat  were  a  fluid,  as  the  caloric  theory 
asserted,  then  there  should  be  an  end  to  the  process 
sooner  or  later.  Eumford  now  began  to  get  gleams 
of  the  truth  of  the  vibratory  theory.  Taking  a  large 
piece  of  brass  with  a  hollow  at  one  end,  he  fitted  to 
it  a  blunt  steel  borer,  which  pressed  down  upon  the 
metal  with  a  weight  of  10,000  pounds.  This  appa- 
ratus he  placed  in  a  box  holding  about  18%  pounds 
of  water.  The  brass  was  then  made  to  revolve  by 
horse-power  at  the  rate  of  32  times  per  minute.  In 
the  beginning  the  water  in  the  box  was  at  60°  F., 
but  in  two  hours  and  a  half  it  actually  boiled.  '  It 
would  be  difficult,'  wrote  Eumford,  '  to  describe  the 
surprise  and  astonishment  of  the  bystanders  to  see 
so  large  a  quantity  of  water  heated  and  actually  made 
to  boil  without  any  fire.'  ...  By  this  experi- 
ment he  had  proved  that  motion  can  be  turned  into 
heat."  * 

The  experiment  at  least  reveals  the  fact  that  heat 
i  Steele,  Physios. 


24  Conscience. 

and  motion  are  closely  related.  The  great  quantity 
of  heat  evolved  could  not  have  been  derived  from  an 
indefinite  store  of  caloric  present  in  the  cannon.  If 
heat  be  a  substance,  whence  then  was  the  evolved  heat 
obtained?  The  motive  power  used  in  boring  the 
cannon  was  the  heat  energy  evolved  by  the  horse  by 
the  oxidation  of  its  muscular  tissue.  The  working 
horse  had  to  generate  enough  heat  or  power  to  move 
its  own  body  and  the  machinery  to  which  it  was  at- 
tached. The  body  of  the  horse  and  the  attached 
machinery  may  be  regarded  as  resisting  bodies  which 
lie  in  the  path  of  the  stream  of  heat  that  is  generated 
by  the  working  horse  and  which  tends  to  flow  to  the 
ground;  these  obstacles  in  the  path  of  the  stream  of 
heat-substance  are  themselves  moved  by  the  swift 
current.  Instead  of  heat  being  considered  merely  as 
a  kind  of  motion,  motion  could  be  regarded  as  merely 
the  property  and  characteristic  of  a  substance  heat: 
it  is  the  nature  of  the  substance  heat  to  flow,  and  the 
intenser  the  heat,  the  more  swiftly  will  it  move. 
Heat  is  the  active  substance,  the  motive  power,  the 
energy  of  nature. 

When  a  sufficient  quantity  of  heat  is  added  to  all 
forms  of  matter,  they  become  luminous  gases  or  col- 
ored flames,  and  in  this  state  all  matter  is  seen  to 
partake  of  the  nature  of  fire  or  heat.  The  converse 
seems  true,  that  heat  is  thus  of  the  nature  of  matter, 
that  heat  is  substance.  In  the  chapter  on  Matter  we 
conceived  the  elements  as  having  evolved  as  various 
stages  of  intensity  in  the  process  of  the  cool- 


The  Science  of  Energy.  25 

ing  of  white  heat,  and  hence  conceived  of  heat  as  the 
primordial  substance,  the  very  essence  of  matter. 

To  the  question,  Is  light  a  substance,  we  should 
answer  that  light  is  the  substance  heat  in  its  intense 
state  of  luminous  gas.  But  the  modern  scientific 
theory  is  that  light  "  is  not  a  substance,  but  a  kind  of 
wave-motion,  a  shiver,  which  is  sent  along  through 
bodies  with  great  velocity  and  to  very  great  distances, 
although  the  particles  of  the  body,  or  medium,  trans- 
mitting this  wave-motion  travel  very  small  distances 
on  either  side  of  their  positions  of  rest."  1 

What  kind  of  substance  does  science  assume  to 
exist,  in  order  that  light  may  be  considered  not  a 
substance  in  itself,  but  wave-motion  ?  "  If  light  is 
motion,  what  moves  ?  Our  atmosphere  is  but  a  thin 
investment  of  the  earth,  while  the  great  space  that 
separates  us  from  the  sun  contains  no  air  or  other 
known  substance.  But  empty  space  can  neither  re- 
ceive nor  communicate  motion.  It  is  assumed  — - 
it  is  necessary  to  assume  —  that  there  is  some  me- 
dium filling  the  interplanetary  space,  in  fact,  filling 
all  otherwise  unoccupied  space  (i.  e.,  where  matter 
is  not,  ether  is),  by  which  motion  can  be  communi- 
cated from  one  point  in  the  otherwise  empty  space  to 
another.  This  medium  has  received  the  name  of 
ether.  Ether  is  supposed  to  penetrate  even  among 
the  molecules  of  liquid  and  solid  matter,  and  thus 
surrounds  every  molecule  of  matter  in  the  uni- 
verse, as  the  atmosphere  surrounds  the  earth.  No 

i  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics. 


26  Conscience. 

vacuum  of  this  medium  can  bo  obtained ;  an  attempt 
to  pump  it  out  of  a  space  would  be  like  trying  to 
pump  water  with  a  sieve  for  a  piston.  We  cannot 
see,  hear,  feel,  taste,  smell,  weigh,  nor  measure  it. 
What  evidence,  then,  have  we  that  it  exists?  You 
believe  that  a  horse  can  see;  you  have  no  absolute 
knowledge  of  the  fact.  But  you  reason  thus :  he  be- 
haves as  if  he  could  see ;  in  other  words,  you  are  able 
to  account  for  his  actions  on  the  hypothesis  that  he 
can  see,  and  on  no  other.  Phenomena  occur  just  as 
they  would  occur  if  all  space  were  filled  with  an 
ethereal  medium  capable  of  transmitting  motion,  and 
we  can  account  for  these  phenomena  on  no  other 
hypothesis;  hence  our  belief  in  the  existence  of  the 
medium."  *  "  There  is  supposed  to  be  a  fluid, 
termed  ether,  constituting  a  kind  of  universal  at- 
mosphere, diffused  through  space.  It  is  so  subtle 
that  it  glides  among  the  molecules  of  bodies  as  the 
air  does  among  the  branches  and  the  foliage  of  trees. 
It  fills  the  pores  of  all  substances,  eludes  all  chemical 
tests,  passes  in  through  the  receiver  and  remains  even 
in  the  vacuum  of  an  air-pump.  A  luminous  body 
sets  in  motion  waves  of  ether,  which  go  off  in  every 
direction.  They  move  at  the  rate  of  186,000  miles 
per  second,  and  breaking  upon  the  eye,  give  the  im- 
pression of  sight.  The  wave-motion  is  like  that  of 
sound,  except  that  the  vibrations  are  transverse."  2 
Let  us  take  a  closer  look  at  the  nature  of  this  in- 

1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Steele,  Physics. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  27 

teresting  substance  ether.  "  Graetz,  assumes  the  ether 
to  be  an  elastic  solid,  and  therefore  attributes  to  it 
the  same  properties  Fresnel  and  Neumann  did." 
We  can  pump  from  the  receiver  of  an  air  pump  mat- 
ter as  subtle  as  invisible  gas,  and  yet  cannot  remove 
a  certain  solid  named  ether.  If  this  ether  exists,  it 
has  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  solid  that  is 
subtle  and  invisible;  gases  commonly  have  these 
characteristics,  but  not  solid  matter.  "  That  me- 
dium by  which  light  is  transmitted  through  what  we 
commonly  call  a  vacuum  is  named  by  physicists  the 
luminiferous  (light-bearing)  ether.  This  medium 
is  a  good  deal  of  a  mystery.  We  have  overwhelming 
proof  that  it  transmits  energy  by  means  of  a  wave- 
motion.  It  must,  therefore,  have  inertia,  like  ordi- 
nary matter,  but  it  is  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  subject 
to  gravitation  like  ordinary  matter.  Its  wave-mo- 
tion is  much  like  that  of  an  elastic  solid,  yet  it  does 
not,  so  far  as  we  have  discovered,  impede  the  heaven- 
ly bodies  in  their  motion  through  it.  These  various 
properties,  positive  and  negative,  do  not  harmonize 
very  readily,  and  we  have  still  much  to  learn  about 
the  ether."  1 

It  has  justly  been  said  that  "  without  the  arbitrary 
hypothesis  of  an  inter-stellar  ether,  which  science  has 
thought  itself  compelled  to  invent,  .  .  .  and 
which  has  no  other  objective  evidence,  besides  being 
in  its  own  character  in  various  ways  a  logical  con- 
tradiction,—  without  such  an  ether  we  are  compelled 

i  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics, 


28  Conscience. 

to  admit  that  this  heat  energy  exists  entirely  apart 
from  all  atoms  in  absolute  space.  This  must  occur 
whenever  it  passes  from  one  place  to  another,  either 
through  the  vast  voids  between  the  stars,  or  ... 
through  the  infinitesimal  voids  between  atom  and 
atom  in  gases."  * 

The  theory  that  light  is  merely  wave-motion  of  a 
hypothetical  substance  ether  does  not  explain  the 
mystery  light;  for  in  order  to  make  light  mere  mo- 
tion a  greater  mystery  than  the  original  one  that  was 
to  be  explained  is  introduced.  Everyone  knows  more 
or  less  concerning  light,  through  sense-experience  of 
it  as  an  external  reality,  though  its  true  character 
remain  forever  nature's  insolvable  mystery.  But  no 
one  can  ever  hope  to  know  with  certainty  that  ether 
actually  exists.  Whatever  light  is,  it  is  the  grand 
source  of  all  matter  and  all  energy,  and  the  defini- 
tion of  it  as  wave-motion  of  a  hypothetical  and  illog- 
ical substance  ether  is  inadequate.  "The  sunbeam 
comes  to  the  earth  as  simply  motion  of  ether-waves, 
yet  it  is  the  grand  source  of  beauty  and  power.  Its 
heat,  light,  and  chemical  force  work  everywhere  the 
miracle  of  life  and  motion.  In  the  growing  plant, 
\  the  burning  coal,  the  flying  bird,  the  glaring  light- 
ning, the  blooming  flower,  the  rushing  engine,  the 
roaring  cataract,  the  pattering  rain  —  we  see  only 
varied  manifestations  of  this  one  all-energizing 
force."  2  Since  everyone  must  acknowledge  the  fact 

i  Murray,  Atoms  and  Energies, 
2Steele,  Physios. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  29 

that  the  sun  is  the  source  of  all  energy  and  life  that 
the  earth  possesses,  which  then  do  we  receive  from 
the  sun,  a  subtle,  all-powerful  substance  heat,  or 
merely  little  waves  sent  through  a  medium  ether  ? 
Does  the  following  theory  explain  the  nature  of  the 
heat  and  light  which  the  earth  receives  from  the 
sun  ?  "  The  molecules  of  the  sun  and  stars  are  in 
rapid  vibration.  These  set  in  motion  waves  of  ether, 
which  dart  across  the  intervening  space,  and  surging 
against  the  earth,  give  up  their  motion  to  it." 

The  invisible  gases  of  the  atmosphere  baffle  our  in- 
vestigations into  their  true  nature.  How  much  more 
then  must  the  vastly  more  subtle  light  and  heat  defy 
our  reason !  Luminous  hydrogen  gas  seems  almost 
as  "  unsubstantial "  as  the  sunbeam  or  the  electric 
spark,  but  when  we  cool  it  into  liquid  hydrogen  we 
feel  that  then  it  is  unquestionably  substance.  We 
who  live  on  a  globe  where  matter  exists  not  in  the 
form  of  luminous  gases  as  on  the  sun,  but  chiefly  in 
the  solid  and  liquid  states  with  a  few  non-luminous 
or  invisible  gases  which  still  form  an  atmosphere 
above  the  solid  crust,  begin  with  matter  in  the  solid 
state  as  the  basis  for  our  conceptions  of  matter  in 
general,  and  from  this  basis  reason  concerning  the 
nature  of  liquids  and  gases.  But  solid  matter  is 
the  last-evolved  state  of  matter,  and  matter  is  no 
less  matter  when  it  is  gaseous  and  subtle  and  eludes 
human  investigation  into  its  nature.  We  find 
"  that  matter  is  not  what  it  appears ;  —  that  chem- 

i  Steele,  Physics. 


30  Conscience. 

istry  can  blow  it  all  into  gas.  Faraday,  the  most 
exact  of  natural  philosophers,  taught  that  when  we 
should  arrive  at  the  monads,  or  primordial  elements 
(the  supposed  little  cubes  or  prisms  of  which  all  mat- 
ter was  built  up),  we  should  not  find  cubes,  or  prisms, 
or  atoms,  at  all,  but  spherules  of  force."  *  Tracing 
back  solid,  liquid  and  gaseous  matter,  we  find  in  the 
youngest  heavenly  bodies,  the  white  nebulae,  a  pri- 
mordial substance  white  light  or  white  heat,  which  is 
at  the  same  time  the  energy  of  the  universe. 

Is  electricity  matter  ?  If  experiment  justifies  the 
use  of  the  term  '  current  of  electricity,'  the  implica- 
tion would  be  that  some  substance  is  flowing.  One 
simple  method  of  obtaining  a  so-called  "  current  of 
electricity  "  is  as  follows :  "  It  is  found  that  if  a 
circuit  be  made  up  of  two  wires  of  different  metals, 
and  one  of  the  junctions  be  heated,  a  current  is  set 
up  in  the  circuit.  Currents  so  produced  are  called 
thermo-electric  currents."  2  A  current  "  may  also 
be  produced  by  cooling  either  of  the  junctions."  3 
What  then  is  this  "  electricity  "  that  flows  through 
the  wires?  When  a  certain  part  of  the  wires  is 
heated  or  cooled  more  than  the  other  parts,  a  differ- 
ence of  temperature  exists  between  this  heated  or 
cooled  portion  and  the  other  parts.  Since  there  is 
a  universal  tendency  towards  equalization  of  tem- 
perature, heat  flows  from  the  hotter  to  the  colder 


1  Emerson,  Poetry  and  Imagination. 

2  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 

3  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  31 

parts  of  the  wire.  What  else  could  the  electric  cur- 
rent in  the  wires  be  except  this  flowing  heat? 
"  The  strength  of  the  current  is  nearly  proportional 
to  the  difference  in  temperature  "  x  of  the  parts  of  the 
wires.  "  A  thermo-electric  pile  consists  of  alternate 
bars  of  antimony  and  bismuth  soldered  together. 
.  .  .  If  both  faces  of  the  pile  are  equally  heat- 
ed, there  is  no  current.  The  least  variation  of  tem- 
perature, however,  between  the  two  is  indicated  by 
the  flow  of  electricity.  .  .  .  This  constitutes  a 
delicate  test  of  the  presence  of  heat."  2  "  Experi- 
ment proves  that  a  thermo-electric  current  uses  up 
heat."  3  A  thermo-electric  current  is  a  current  of 
heat,  electricity  is  the  subtle  substance  heat. 

Let  us  consider  what  further  evidence  there  is 
that  electricity  is  heat.  Franklin  first  proved  that 
lightning  is  electricity.  What  then  is  lightning? 
It  is  the  heat  evolved  by  the  warmer  of  two  merging 
clouds,  and  the  heat  evolved  in  the  process  of  water 
vapor  or  steam  becoming  liquid  rain.  The  highly- 
resisting  air  impedes  the  current  of  heat  until  it  be- 
comes so  accumulated  and  intensified  that  it  can  flash 
as  luminous  heat  or  light  along  a  path  from  which  it 
removes  the  resisting  air,  the  displacing  of  the  air 
giving  rise  to  the  sound  known  as  thunder.  Only  in 
the  warmer  regions  of  the  earth1  —  in  the  tropics,  and 
during  the  hot  summer  in  the  temperate  zones,  is  the 

1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Steele,  Physics. 

3  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics. 


32  Conscience. 

heat  evolved  during  rains  intense  enough  to  become 
visible  as  luminous  heat  or  lightning. 

"  When  two  conductors  at  different  potentials  are 
made  to  approach  one  another,  a  passage  of  electricity 
takes  place  between  them  across  the  intervening  dielec- 
tric accompanied  by  heat,  light,  and  a  crackling 
sound."  1  One  would  describe  the  appearance  as  the 
flash  of  a  spark  of  fire  from  the  conductor  at  the 
higher  potential  to  the  other,  and  what  but  fire 
crackles,  is  hot  and  luminous  ?  Again,  when  a  strong 
current  of  electricity  is  flowing  through  a  wire  that 
is  not  insulated,  anyone  who  grasps  the  "  live  "  wire 
is  burned.  A  great  intensity  of  heat  is  required  to 
melt  metal  wires,  and  these  can  therefore  be  used  as 
conductors  of  currents  of  electricity  or  fire  that  are 
not  very  intense ;  but  the  wires  carrying  the  currents 
have  to  be  insulated,  to  keep  the  fire  from  coming  in 
contact  with  wood,  paper  and  other  inflammable 
materials. 

What  is  the  electric  current  that  is  generated  in  a 
battery  ?  The  metals  and  acids  of  a  battery  unite  to 
form  compounds,  and  heat  is  always  evolved  in  the 
act  of  chemical  combination.  This  chemical  union 
that  takes  place  in  every  voltaic  cell  is  a  form  of  slow 
combustion,  heat  is  evolved  during  the  process  of  the 
gradual  burning  of  the  metals  by  the  acids.  The 
two  metals  of  the  battery  differ  in  their  rate  of  union 
with  the  acid,  the  more  active  evolving  the  greater 
quantity  of  heat  in  a  given  time.  There  will  con- 

i  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  33 

sequently  be  a  flow  of  heat  from  the  metal  that  is 
evolving  the  greater  quantity  to  the  other,  and  this 
flowing  heat  is  the  electric  current  generated  in 
the  battery.  "  The  greater  the  disparity  between  the 
two  solid  elements,  with  reference  to  the  action  of  the 
liquid  on  them,  the  greater  the  difference  in  poten- 
tial ;  hence  the  greater  the  current."  1  "  When  char- 
coal or  gas-carbon  electrodes  are  used  with  a  powerful 
battery,  on  slightly  separating  the  points,  the  inter- 
vening space  is  spanned  by  an  arch  of  the  most  daz- 
zling light.  The  flame,  reaching  out  from  the  pos- 
itive pole  like  a  tongue,  vibrates  around  the  negative 
pole,  licking  now  on  this  side  and  now  on  that.  The 
heat  is  intense.  Platinum  melts  in  it  like  wax  in 
the  flame  of  a  candle,  the  metals  burn  with  their 
characteristic  colors;  and  lime,  quartz,  etc.  are 
fused."  2  The  effect  of  the  highly-resisting  air  in 
the  small  space  between  the  highly-resisting  carbon 
points  of  an  arc-lamp  is  to  accumulate  and  intensify 
the  current  into  luminous  heat  or  white  flame.  This 
intense  and  concentrated  heat  of  the  electric  arc  is 
the  nearest  form  of  earthly  matter  to  the  concentrated 
white  flame  in  the  sun's  nucleus.  "  The  brightest 
part  of  an  electric  arc  comes  nearer  sunlight  in  in- 
tensity than  anything  else  we  know  of,  being  from 
one-half  to  one-quarter  as  bright  as  the  solar  sur- 
face itself."  3  "  The  electric  light  is  of  the  purest 


1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Steele,  Physics. 

3  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


34  Conscience. 

white.  .  .  .  The  heat  generated  by  electricity 
will  vaporize  all  substances."  * 

When  electricity  accumulates  instead  of  flowing 
as  a  current,  it  is  called  "  static,"  in  contradistinction 
to  current  or  "  dynamic,"  electricity.  Since  heat  is 
motive  power,  all  electricity  flows,  unless  impeded 
by  media  of  too  great  resistance.  For  example, 
when  the  circuit  of  a  battery  is  broken  by  separating 
the  ends  of  the  conducting  wire,  leaving  between 
the  separated  ends  the  highly-resisting  medium  air, 
"  the  current  ceases,  but  electricity  accumulates  in  the 
wire."  2  From  the  arc-lamp  we  learn  that  a  current 
must  be  greatly  intensified  by  accumulation  in  order 
to  span  a  very  small  but  highly-resisting  air-space. 
In  the  case  of  the  Ley  den  jar,  where  electricity  is 
accumulated  or  "  stored  "  on  tin-foil  over  glass,  the 
highly-resisting  media  glass  and  air  are  used  to  in- 
sulate the  electricity,  that  is  to  say,  to  impede  its 
onward  flow  as  a  current  to  some  good  conductor  or 
path  of  low  resistance.  Similarly,  when  a  person 
who  is  standing  on  a  glass  or  insulating  stool  is 
struck  with  a  strip  of  fur,  the  glass  stool  and  the 
surrounding  air  are  media  of  great  resistance  which 
impede  the  flow  to  the  ground  or  some  other  good 
conductor  of  the  small  quantity  of  heat  that  accum- 
ulates upon  him  from  the  friction  of  the  fur. 

The  relation  of  dynamic  and  static  electricity  is 
then  as  follows:  A  current  or  dynamic  electricity 

1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 


OF 


( 

The  Science  of  Energy.  35 

may  become  impeded  and  diffused  in  a  highly-resist- 
ing medium,  thus  becoming  static; —  just  as  a 
stream  of  water  may  diffuse  into  a  stagnant  marsh 
on  reaching  level  country  where  no  easy  channel  is 
offered  as  an  outlet.  On  the  other  hand,  static  or 
diffused  electricity  may  be  concentrated  into  a  stream 
or  current  by  a  good  conductor  which  drains  it  into 
its  easy  channel ; —  just  as  a  river  bed  drains  and 
concentrates  into  one  stream  water  formerly  diffused 
over  a  wide  area  of  land.  Further,  as  water  tends 
to  spread  evenly  over  the  whole  surface  of  a  level 
area,  static  electricity  is  diffused  equally  above  the 
surface  of  a  body.  A  charge  of  static  electricity  is 
said  to  reside  on  the  exterior  of  a  body;  more  ac- 
curately, it  forms  an  atmosphere  of  heat  directly 
above  the  body's  exterior  surface,  as  a  result  of  its 
becoming  diffused  in  the  resisting  medium  as  soon 
as  it  leaves  the  conductor  and  can  flow  no  further 
along  its  course  towards  the  ground. 

"  Positive  "  and  "  negative  "  charges  of  electricity 
do  not  point  to  the  existence  of  two  electric  sub- 
stances, but  to  differences  in  the  intensities  of  the 
same  substance  heat.  Any  two  charges  that  are  not 
the  same  in  intensity  are  respectively  positive  and 
negative.  Positive  electricity  is  "  by  definition, 
such  as  is  developed  on  glass  when  rubbed  with 
silk,"  and  negative  is  such  as  is  "  developed  on  seal- 
ing-wax when  rubbed  with  flannel."  *  Now  no  two 
substances  in  nature  conduct  electricity,  or  heat,  at  the 
i  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 


36  Conscience. 

same  rate ;  hence,  when  they  are  exposed  to  the  same 
source  of  heat  for  the  same  length  of  time,  they  will 
differ  in  the  quantity  of  heat  each  has  received.  It 
requires  working-power  on  the  part  of  the  agent  to 
rub  bodies  together,  and  this  working-power  is  heat 
evolved  by  the  agent.  This  current  of  heat  from  the 
agent  to  the  bodies  moved  against  each  other  will  be 
unequally  divided  between  these  bodies,  the  better 
conductor  receiving  the  greater  quantity  of  this  heat 
of  friction.  There  is  thus  a  difference  in  the  amount 
of  heat  the  glass,  silk,  sealing-wax  and  flannel  each 
receives,  and  when  compared,  they  are  found  to  be 
at  different  potentials  or  unequally  charged. 

Light  bodies  that  are  unequally  charged  attract  or 
approach  each  other ;  for  the  difference  in  their  poten- 
tial gives  rise  to  a  current  of  heat  from  the  more 
highly  charged  body  to  the  other,  and  this  stream  of 
heat  carries  along  the  light,  easily-moved  body  in  its 
current,  towards  the  other  body.  The  heat  current 
that  flows  between  two  "  oppositely  "  or  differently 
charged  bodies  is  thus  their  magnetic  bond,  their 
cause  of  attraction.  When  the  flow  of  heat  between 
them  has  brought  them  to  the  same  potential,  the 
current  then  ceases  and  consequently  no  further  at- 
traction between  the  bodies  exists.  The  bodies  then 
actually  separate  or  repel  each  other,  for  the  at- 
mospheres of  heat  surrounding  both  of  them  take  up 
space  and  move  the  bodies  asunder.  For  example, 
an  electrified  body  first  attracts  a  light  pith  ball  sus- 
pended by  a  silk  thread  near  it,  and  when  the  ball 


The  Science  of  Energy.  37 

has  received  a  flow  of  heat  that  forms  over  it  an  at- 
mosphere of  the  same  intensity  as  exists  over  the 
electrified  body,  this  newly  acquired  heat  atmosphere, 
being  substance,  occupies  space,  the  ball  moves  aside 
or  is  said  to  be  repelled. 

If  heat,  light  and  electricity  are  a  subtle  substance, 
motion  and  magnetism  may  be  regarded  as  prop- 
erties of  this  substance.  If  light  is  a  substance,  the 
enormous  velocity  with  which  it  flows  is  proof  of  the 
truth  that  motion  is  its  attribute.  It  naturally  can 
flow  faster  through  void  space  than  through  space 
that  is  already  partly  filled  with  matter,  and  "  care- 
ful experiments  have  proved  that  the  velocity  of  light 
is  less  in  a  dense  than  in  a  rare  medium."  *  If  heat 
is  motive  power,  the  intenser  the  heat  the  greater  its 
motion,  and  the  colder  the  form  assumed  by  matter, 
the  more  nearly  will  it  approach  a  state  of  rest. 
Force,  energy,  heat  has  to  be  applied  to  set  in  motion 
the  cold  liquid  and  solid  forms  of  matter  upon  the 
earth's  surface  that  have  come  to  rest.  Since  mo- 
mentum varies  as  the  mass  and  velocity,  light, 
though  an  imponderable  substance,  has  great  mo- 
mentum because  it  has  enormous  velocity.  "  Light 
substances,  even  so  light  as  air,  exhibit  great  energy 
when  their  velocity  is  great."  2  As  a  swift  moun- 
tain torrent  sweeps  along  in  its  downward  flow  the 
bodies  which  it  encounters  in  its  channel,  so  the  sub- 
stance heat  that  itself  possesses  inherent  motive  power 

1  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 

2  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 


38  Conscience. 

tends  to  move  bodies  that  lie  in  its  path  as  it  flows 
towards  the  cold,  solid  ground  at  low  potential ; —  the 
result  depending  on  the  intensity  and  strength  of 
the  heat-current  and  on  the  amount  of  resistance 
which  the  bodies  in  its  path  offer.  When  the  stream 
of  heat  is  intense,  its  velocity  will  be  great,  and  it 
will  consequently  have  sufficient  energy  to  move  even 
large  and  heavy  bodies  that  lie  in  its  current.  When 
weak,  the  stream  has  not  strength  enough  to  move 
these  bodies  and  itself  flows  on  through  them  as  re- 
sistances which  decrease  its  rate  of  motion,  at  times 
even  to  the  point  of  completely  diffusing  and  check- 
ing the  current. 

The  mechanical  engines  which  man  employs  are 
heat  engines.  "  Nature,  by  supplying  combustible 
material  everywhere,  has  afforded  us  the  means  of 
generating  heat  and  the  motive  power  which  is  given 
by  it,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places."  *  Therefore  we 
are  able  to  utilize  the  motive  power  that  heat 
possesses  by  placing  the  objects  we  desire  to  be  moved 
in  the  path  of  the  current  of  heat,  just  as  we  make 
use  of  water-power  by  placing  the  wheels  of  our  mills 
in  the  path  of  a  stream  of  water.  For  example,  the 
electric  cars  of  the  present  day  are  moved  by  being 
placed  as  resistances  in  the  circuit  or  path  of  strong 
electric  currents.  There  are  no  perfect  heat-engines, — 
engines  in  which  none  of  the  strength  of  the  heat 
current  is  lost ;  for  some  heat  is  constantly  diffusing 
from  the  current  through  the  resisting  bodies  through 

i  Sadi  Carnot,  Reflections  on  the  Motive  Power  of  Heat. 


The  Science  of  Energy.  39 

which  the  current  is  flowing,  and  the  mechanical 
effect  of  the  engine  will  decrease  in  proportion  as  the 
current  decreases  in  intensity.  Metal  wires  are 
widely  used  at  the  present  time  as  paths  for  heat 
currents ;  being  "  good  conductors  "  or  paths  of  low 
resistance,  they  do  not  soon  disperse  the  heat  concen- 
trated in  a  current. 

The  laws  of  the  refraction  and  the  reflection  of 
light  could  be  explained  as  readily  on  the  hypothesis 
that  light  is  a  subtle  substance  that  moves  with  tre- 
mendous velocity  as  on  the  hypothesis  that  light  is 
rapidly-moving  ether-waves.  The  denser  the  body 
through  which  the  substance  light  is  flowing,  the 
less  direct  or  the  more  refracted  its  path.  When  a 
say  of  white  sunlight  passes  through  a  glass  prism, 
only  a  part  of  the  substance  composing  the  stream 
can  find  enough  free  space,  in  the  pores  of  the  glass, 
to  flow  on  through  the  prism  in  a  straight  line;  the 
rest  of  the  substance  will  have  to  seek  more  and 
more  indirect  outlets.  That  light  that  is  most  re- 
fracted from  a  direct  path  will  lose  the  most  heat 
by  diffusion  in  a  resisting  medium  and  will  emerge 
as  the  weakest  light,  violet  in  color.  A  lens  that 
causes  convergence  of  rays  of  light  will  concentrate 
the  substance  once  scattered  into  colored  lights  again 
into  an  intense  white  ray,  which  will  even  set  on 
fire  a  piece  of  paper  placed  at  the  focus  of  the  lens. 
Certain  light-effects  are  explained  on  the  wave- 
theory  as  either  wave  reinforcements  or  wave  inter- 
ferences ;  either  the  waves  merge  and  become  stronger 


40  Conscience. 

through  union,  or  they  interfere  and  destroy  one  an- 
other, giving  rise  to  darkness  in  place  of  light.  On 
the  hypothesis  that  light  is  a  flowing  substance,  two 
streams  could  unite  and  form  a  stronger,  more  con- 
centrated light;  but  two  streams  of  substance  could 
not  destroy  each  other  on  meeting,  for  matter  is  in- 
destructible. This  latter  phenomenon  of  two  rays 
of  light  becoming  invisible  after  meeting  could  be 
explained  as  the  meeting  and  redistribution  of  two 
streams  formerly  flowing  in  different  directions. 
"  In  all  cases  of  interference,  .  .  .  it  is  to  be 
carefully  remembered  that  light  (regarded  as  energy) 
is  never  annihilated.  The  distribution  alone  is  al- 
tered, so  that  the  illumination,  instead  of  being  dif- 
fused regularly,  is  concentrated  in  some  places  at  the 
expense  of  others."  1 

Magnetism  is  the  drawing  of  bodies  into  the  chan- 
nel of  the  stream  of  heat  or  electricity  by  the  swift 
current.  The  attraction  that  a  piece  of  hard  steel 
exerts  upon  soft  iron  filings  seems  mysterious  and 
inexplicable  until  some  light  is  thrown  upon  the  na- 
ture of  magnetism  by  the  knowledge  of  the  fact  that 
"  a  coil  of  wire  carrying  a  current  is  equivalent  to  a 
magnet."  2  An  electro-magnet  "  is  a  magnet  pro- 
duced by  electricity."  3  The  electro-magnet  that  is 
used  to  lift  heavy  masses  of  metal  drops  its  load  as 
soon  as  the  current  from  the  dynamo  is  cut  off;  the 

1  Preston,  The  Theory  of  Light. 

2  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 
8Qage,  Elements   of  Physics, 


The  Science  of  Energy.  41 

magnetic  force  lasts  then  only  while  there  is  a  cur- 
rent, and  electricity  and  magnetism  are  thus  shown 
to  be  related  as  cause  and  effect.  The  stream  of 
electricity  that  is  flowing  through  a  wire  tends  to 
draw  neighboring  bodies  into  its  current,  the  bodies 
thus  being  drawn  to  the  wire  that  constitutes  the 
current's  channel.  Hard  steel  attracts  soft  iron  be- 
cause they  differ  in  their  conduction  of  heat,  the 
better  conductor  receiving  more  heat  from  the  sur- 
roundings in  a  given  time;  a  current  of  heat  thus 
flows  from  the  better  conductor  to  the  other,  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  tendency  towards  equalization  of  heat,  and 
this  stream  of  heat  between  the  steel  and  soft  iron 
is  their  magnetic  bond.  When  a  person  comes  in 
contact  with  an  uninsulated  wire  through  which  a 
powerful  electric  current  is  flowing,  he  is  unable  to 
overcome  the  attraction  and  is  held  in  the  current's 
channel. 

A  "  conductor  which  is  carrying  a  current  has  a 
magnetic  field  surrounding  it/'  and  if  iron  filings 
are  scattered  near  the  wire,  "  the  filings  at  once  ar- 
range themselves  in  curves  of  force,  taking  the  form 
of  concentric  circles  round  the  wire  as  their  common 
centre."  1  As  some  water  from  a  stream  percolates 
through  the  soil  that  borders  its  bed,  so  some  heat 
from  the  main  current  flowing  through  a  body  in  a 
definite  direction,  diffuses  or  radiates  from  this  chan- 
nel of  the  stream  in  ever-widening  circles  in  every 
direction. 

1  Stewart,  Magnetism  and  Electricity. 


42  Conscience. 

"  The  cause  of  the  earth's  magnetism  is  not 
known.  The  theory  that  it  is  an  electro-magnet  in 
virtue  of  currents  flowing  around  it  near  its  surface 
from  east  to  west,  explains  all  the  effects  that  it 
produces  on  the  magnetic  needle.  But  what  sus- 
tains these  electric  currents  ?  There  are  many  things 
that  point  to  the  sun  as  the  source  of  the  earth's  mag- 
netism. Those  who  adopt  this  theory  generally  re- 
gard the  terrestrial  currents  as  thermo-electric." * 
The  sun  heats  the  earth's  surface  unequally,  and 
currents  of  heat  thus  flow  from  the  hotter  to  the 
colder  regions.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  daily 
inequality  of  the  heating  of  the  east  and  the  west, 
the  sun  rising  in  the  east  and  moving  westward, 
thus  causing  heat  currents  to  flow  from  east  to  west. 
Besides  this  daily  difference  in  the  temperatures  of 
various  portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  there  is  the 
difference  in  the  quantity  of  heat  the  equatorial, 
temperate  and  arctic  zones  receive  from  the  sun. 
Currents  of  heat,  as  well  as  hot  ocean  streams  and 
hot  winds,  flow  regularly  from  the  hot  equatorial 
regions  towards  the  cold,  arctic  regions.  The  com- 
pass, being  made  of  a  substance  that  is  a  good  con- 
ductor of  heat,  is  sensitive  to  this  general  current  of 
heat  that  flows  towards  the  earth's  coldest  regions 
and  points  towards  the  arctic  regions,  though  not  to 
the  exact  geographic  north  and  south  poles.  The 
attraction  or  force  of  gravitation  that  exists  between 

i  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics, 


The  Science  of  Energy.  43 

the  intensely  hot  sun  and  its  cooler  planets  may  be 
regarded  as  magnetism,  the  bond  being  the  stream  of 
heat  that  flows  from  the  sun  to  the  planets  that  are 
at  lower  potential. 

The  following  points  of  resemblance  between  heat, 
light  and  electricity  may  be  cited  as  further  con- 
firmation of  the  theory  that  they  are  one  and  the 
same  substance.  The  "  law  of  inverse  squares  "  ap- 
plies to  heat,  electricity  and  the  force  of  gravitation 
or  magnetism  as  truly  as  it  does  to  light:  intensity 
diminishes  as  the  square  of  the  distance  increases. 
Again,  "  the  order  of  conductive  power  of  the  metals 
is  the  same  for  both  heat  and  electricity."  *  Again, 
"  light  is  only  visible  radiant  heat.  If  we  elevate 
the  temperature  of  a  body  sufficiently,  we  can  change 
heat-rays  into  light-rays." 2  "  All  bodies  become 
luminous  at  a  fixed  temperature.  Like  light,  heat 
may  be  reflected,  refracted  and  polarized.  It  radi- 
ates in  straight  lines  in  every  direction,  and  de- 
creases in  intensity  as  the  square  of  the  distance. 
It  moves  with  the  same  velocity  as  light.  It  is 
therefore  believed  that  light  is  luminous  heat," 3 
Again,  from  experiment  it  was  learned  that 
"  electro-magnetic  waves "  "  were  reflected  like 
light-waves,  they  were  refracted  like  light-waves, 
and  they  traveled  with  about  the  same  velocity  as 
light-waves.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  two 


1  Roscoe  and  Schorlemmer,  Chemistry. 

2  Steele,  Physics. 
s  Steele,  Physics. 


44  Conscience. 

kinds  of  waves  are  essentially  the  same.  Thus  was 
completed  one  of  the  greatest  intellectual  triumphs 
of  the  century,  the  proof  of  the  electromagnetic  na- 
ture of  light/'  * 

The  substance  of  the  white  nebulae  is  the  origin 
of  Energy  and  of  Matter.  This  concentrated,  in- 
tense white  heat  of  the  nebulae  is  energy  in  its 
highest  form.  The  tendency  of  nature  is  from  this 
highest  form  of  energy  towards  the  lowest  form,  the 
radiated  heat  of  nebula?  uniformly  diffused  in  space. 
"  There  is  a  constant  tendency  in  nature  towards  the 
establishment  of  an  equilibrium  of  temperature;  so 
that  every  transformation  of  energy  is  accompanied 
by  the  dissipation  of  a  certain  proportion  of  it  into 
space  in  the  unavailable  form  of  uniformly  diffused 
heat  .  .  .  There  is  never  any  absolute  loss 
of  energy.  Like  matter,  it  is  indestructible." 2 
"  Whenever  the  transformations  of  any  given  portion 
of  energy  are  traced  as  far  as  possible  it  will  be  found 
that  it  tends  to  take  the  form  of  heat.  The  flight  of 
a  cannon-ball,  the  music  of  an  orchestra,  the  white 
light  of  an  electric  arc-lamp,  the  muscular  energy  of 
a  race-horse, — •  all  end  in  slightly  warming  the  air 
and  surrounding  objects.  It  may  be  said  that  heat 
is  the  lowest  form  of  energy.  Other  forms  run  into 
it  as  streams  run  into  the  ocean."  3  Uniformly  dif- 
fused heat  is  the  lowest  stage  of  energy;  the  other 


1  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physics. 

2  Gibson,  Elementary  Biology. 

3  Hall  and  Bergen,  Physios, 


The  Science  of  Energy.  45 

forms  of  energy  are  intenser,  more  concentrated  heat. 
During  transferences  of  energy  from  bodies  of  higher 
to  bodies  of  lower  potential,  transformations  of  en- 
ergy arise,  according  as  the  path  causes  diffusion  or 
concentration.  The  heat  radiated  into  void  space 
from  nebulae  and  suns  spreads  out  from  its  source 
as  centre  as  a  more  and  more  rarefied  gas  the  farther 
it  travels;  this  radiated  solar  heat  is  the  planets' 
chief  source  of  "  energy."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
flames  of  the  elements  that  evolve  on  the  radiating 
surface  of  white  flame  are  only  slightly  less  concen- 
trated than  the  white  flame  itself,  thus  the  matter  of 
which  planets  are  formed  is  not  rarefied  substance  to 
the  extent  that  radiated  heat  is. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  HEAVENLY  BODIES,   OK  THE  SCIENCE  OF  AS- 
TKONOMY. 

"  Astronomy  is  the  science  which  treats  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  It  investigates  (a)  their  motions 
and  the  laws  which  govern  them;  (b)  their  nature, 
dimensions,  and  characteristics;  (c)  the  influence 
they  exert  upon  each  other  either  by  their  attraction, 
their  radiation,  or  in  any  other  way."  1  The  study 
of  Matter,  or  the  science  of  chemistry,  throws  light 
upon  the  nature  of  the  heavenly  bodies, —  upon  their 
physical  and  chemical  condition.  The  heavenly 
bodies  are  so  related  in  nature  that  they  appear  as 
various  stages  of  evolution  from  a  primordial  sub- 
stance once  concentrated  in  nebulae.  The  study  of 
Energy,  or  the  science  of  physics,  throws  light  upon 
the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  white  heat 
of  nebulae  and  suns  is  energy  in  its  highest  form. 
These  fiery  bodies  possess  energy  or  the  motive  power 
of  heat,  whereas  the  motion  of  their  planets  or  cast- 
off,  cooler  atmospheres  is  governed  by  the  force  of 
gravitation.  The  stream  of  heat  that  flows  con- 
stantly from  the  hot  suns  to  their  cooler  planets  con- 

i  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

46 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    47 

stitutes  the  magnetic  attraction  known  as  gravitation. 
Philosophy  searches  among  the  facts  that  the  science 
of  astronomy  has  collected,  for  evidence  that  the 
heavenly  bodies  are  so  related  to  one  another  in  their 
nature  and  motions  through  space  that  they  form  one 
system.  The  question  then  arises  of  the  place  which 
the  earth  occupies  in  this  vast  cosmic  system. 

The  nebular  hypothesis  has  been  brought  forward 
by  astronomers  as  the  explanation  of  how  the  various 
classes  of  heavenly  bodies  —  nebulae,  stars  or  suns, 
planets  and  satellites  of  planets  —  are  related.  Ac- 
cording to  La  Place,  "  at  some  time  in  the  past  the 
matter  which  is  now  gathered  into  the  sun  and 
planets  was  in  the  form  of  a  nebula,  ...  a 
cloud  of  intensely  heated  gas.  .  .  .  Rings  of 
nebulous  matter  "  would  become  "  detached  from  the 
central  mass  "  during  its  rotation.  "  The  ring  thus 
formed  would  for  a  time  revolve  as  a  whole,  but 
would  ultimately  break,  and  the  material  would  col- 
lect into  a  globe  revolving  around  the  central  nebula 
as  a  planet.  .  .  .  The  planet  thus  formed 
might  throw  off  rings  of  its  own,  and  so  form  for  it- 
self a  system  of  satellites."  *  If  we  consider  the 
"  cloud  of  intensely  heated  gas  "  a  cloud  of  the  sub- 
stance intense  heat  or  white  flame,  the  primordial 
substance,  then  the  "  rings  "  that  become  detached 
from  the  nebula  are  the  successively  formed  atmos- 
pheres of  colored  flames  or  "  elements "  evolved 
from  the  cooling  surface  of  the  white  flame.  Satel- 

*  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


48  Conscience. 

lites  are  formed  by  the  breaking  into  two  or  more 
parts  of  gaseous  or  liquid  planets  during  their  rapid 
motion  through  space. 

The  process  of  cooling  seems  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
evolution  of  form  and  of  the  increase  of  cohesion. 
The  white-hot  nebulae  are  clouds  devoid  of  definite 
shape :  "  the  larger  and  brighter  nebulae  are  mostly 
irregular  in  form."  *  On  the  other  hand,  the  cold- 
est stages  of  matter  assume  the  most  perfected  form ; 
the  crystalline  form  appears  only  in  solid  mineral 
matter.  Crystalline  carbon  or  the  diamond  is  a 
colder  state  of  the  substance  carbon  than  is  amorphous 
charcoal.  As  a  nebula  cools  in  space  by  the  loss  by 
radiation  of  some  of  its  surface  heat,  the  remaining 
substance  of  the  body's  surface,  being  no  longer  con- 
tinuous, shrinks  into  a  smaller  space  or  contracts  as 
a  result  of  the  cooling  process  through  spiral  forms 
until  the  spherical  shape,  the  form  in  which  there  is 
the  least  surface,  is  finally  assumed;  the  once  form- 
less nebula  of  white  flame  becomes  a  rounded  sun. 

If  there  be  one  system  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  most 
of  the  evidence  of  the  existence  of  this  system  must 
be  derived  from  an  examination  of  the  arrangement 
in  space  of  the  various  heavenly  bodies.  Is  there  a 
definite  order  discoverable  in  the  positions  of  heav- 
enly bodies  ?  The  "  large  majority  of  the  stars 
which  we  can  see  with  the  telescope  are  contained  in 
a  space  having  the  form  of  a  round  flat  disc,  the 
diameter  of  which  is  eight  or  ten  times  its  thickness. 

i  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


,The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    49 

Our  sun  is  near  the  centre  of  this  disc-like  space."  1 
This  ring  of  stars  is  known  as  "  The  Milky  Way." 
"  The  zone  of  the  Milky  Way  being  rich  in  stars,  we 
must  either  infer  great  extension  of  the  sidereal  sys- 
tem in  the  direction  of  that  zone,  or  a  real  aggrega- 
tion of  stars  within  a  ring-shaped  or  spirally-shaped 
region  around  the  earth."  2  The  latter  inference  is 
considered  the  true  one,  there  is  a  spiral  aggregation 
of  stars  about  the  earth.  "  At  right  angles  to  the 
i  galactic  plane '  the  stars  are  scattered  more  evenly 
and  thinly  than  in  it,  and  we  find  here  on  the  sides 
of  the  disc  the  comparatively  starless  region  of  the 
nebula?."  3 

Let  us  emphasize  the  contrast  in  the  positions  in 
space  of  nebula?  and  of  stars.  "  On  each  side  of  the 
galactic  and  stellar  region  we  have  a  nebular  region, 
in  which  we  find  few  or  no  stars,  but  vast  numbers 
of  nebula?.  The  nebula?  diminish  greatly  in  num- 
ber as  we  approach  the  galactic  region,  only  a  very 
few  being  found  in  that  region."  The  majority  of 
the  resolvable  nebula?  "  lie  near  the  direction  of  the 
plane  of  the  Milky  Way,  comparatively  few  being 
seen  near  the  perpendicular  direction."  5  Then  "  the 
regions  farthest  from  the  Milky  Way,  that  is,  the 
regions  around  the  poles  of  the  galactic  circle, 
are  those  richest  in  nebula?,  speaking  generally."  6 

1  Young,  General  Astronomy. 

2  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Astronomy. 

3  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

4  Newcomb,  Popular  Astronomy. 
6  Newcomb,  Popular  Astronomy. 

6  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Astronomy. 


50  Conscience. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  stars 
"  increases  with  considerable  regularity  from  the 
galactic  poles,  where  they  are  most  sparse,  towards 
the  galactic  circle,  where  they  are  most  crowded."  1 
To  sum  up  in  one  sentence,  the  nebulae  "  are  most 
abundant  at  the  two  poles  of  the  Milky  Way/7  and 
decrease  in  numbers  as  we  approach  the  galactic 
plane,  the  resolvable  nebulae  appearing  chiefly  in 
the  direction  of  that  plane;  whereas  as  we  advance 
"  from  either  pole  toward  the  Milky  Way,  the  num- 
ber of  stars  increases,  at  first  slowly  and  then  more 
rapidly,  until  the  proportion  at  the  galaxy  itself  is 
thirty-fold."  2 

"  Since  all  the  nebulae  maintain  the  same  position 
with  respect  to  the  stars,  their  distance  must  be  in- 
conceivably great,  and,  in  order  to  be  visible  to  us, 
their  magnitude  must  be  proportionately  vast." 3 
Since  the  solar  system  to  which  the  earth  belongs  oc- 
cupies as  its  position  in  space  the  centre  of  a  spiral 
region  of  stars,  and  since  the  nebulas  are  remote 
from  this  galaxy,  being  most  numerous  in  the  galac- 
tic polar  regions,  the  conclusion  follows  that  the 
nebulae,  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  are  most  remote 
from  the  region  of  our  solar  system.  The  irresolv- 
able nebulas  are  further  removed  from  the  plane  of 
the  Milky  Way  than  the  resolvable  nebulae.  But  the 
irresolvable  nebulae  are  the  youngest  heavenly  bodies. 


1  Young,  General  Astronomy. 

2  Steele,  Astronomy. 
s  Steele,  Astronomy. 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    51 

Then  the  youngest  heavenly  bodies  are  in  the  most 
distant  regions  of  space  from  the  position  which  our 
solar  system  occupies.  Perhaps  the  age  of  heavenly 
bodies  and  their  present  positions  in  space  are  re- 
lated. 

According  to  astronomers,  the  nebula  from  which 
our  solar  system  evolved  at  one  time  extended  over 
the  space  now  bounded  by  the  largest  planetary  orbit. 
There  is  no  thought  of  this  nebula  having  once  occu- 
pied an  entirely  different  region  of  space  from  that  at 
present  occupied  by  the  sun  and  its  planets.  But 
there  are  reasons  for  believing  otherwise.  In  the 
first  place,  those  heavenly  bodies  that  are  nebulae 
at  the  present  time  are  in  regions  of  space  more  dis- 
tant from  the  present  place  of  the  solar  system  than 
are  any  other  heavenly  bodies.  All  nebulae  may  at 
first  have  been  in  the  regions  of  space  in  which 
nebula?  are  at  present.  Further,  if  the  nebulae  are 
at  the  outset  clouds  of  white  light,  of  intense  heat, 
the  conclusion  is  that  they  could  not  have  originated 
within  the  bounds  of  cold,  dark  space:  they  must 
emanate  as  fire  clouds  from  a  realm  of  Fire  be- 
yond space,  from  the  region  called  by  the  Greeks 
"  the  empyrean  "  or  "  fire-realm,"  "  the  abode  of  the 
gods."  £>ince  heat  diffuses  and  cools  in  space,  the 
Eternal  and  Infinite  Fire,  the  Unchanging  Light, 
whence  have  emanated  the  fire-clouds  of  creation, 
must  dwell  beyond  the  influence  of  dark,  void  space. 
The  nebulae  are  then  on  the  outmost  borders  of  space, 
and  space  itself,  though  inconceivably  vast,  is  finite. 


52  Conscience. 

Modern  astronomy  fully  accounts  for  the  paths  in 
which  the  planets  move  by  the  cause  of  "  gravita- 
tion " :  the  sun  acts  as  a  central  force,  attracting  the 
planets  and  governing  their  motions.  But  there  is 
no  explanatior  offered  of  the  nature  of  the  paths 
and  the  cause  of  the  motion  of  our  sun  itself  which 
is  a  star,  and  of  the  other  stars  and  nebulas.  Ac- 
cording to  Newton's  first  law  of  motion,  "  a  body  at 
rest  remains  at  rest,  and  a  body  in  motion  moves 
with  uniform  velocity  in  a  straight  line,  unless  acted 
upon  by  some  external  force  to  change  its  condi- 
tion.'7 1  It  is  known  from  experience  that  the  mo- 
tion of  bodies  can  be  increased  by  increasing  the 
force  applied  to  them,  or,  since  force  is  heat,  by  in- 
tensifying the  heat.  For  example,  the  intenser  the 
electric  current,  the  greater  the  motion  of  the  elec- 
tric car;  and  the  hotter  the  furnace-fire  of  a  steam- 
engine,  the  greater  the  speed  of  the  train.  Further, 
when  the  fire  is  extinguished,  the  engine  ceases  to 
move ;  —  heat  produces  motion,  then,  and  cold  pro- 
duces rest.  If  heat  constitutes  motive  power,  the 
intenser  the  heat  the  greater  the  velocity.  The 
nebulae,  stars  and  our  sun  are  in  their  nuclei  concen- 
trated white  heat  or  energy  in  its  highest  form :  thus 
these  fiery  bodies  have  inherent  motive  power.  Since 
we  know  that  heat  produces  motion  of  bodies  on  the 
earth,  we  must  acknowledge  the  truth  that  the  sun's 
motion  must  be  connected  with  its  intense  heat.  Let 
us  translate  Newton's  first  law  of  motion,  then,  into 
i  Gage,  Elements  of  Physics. 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    53 

the  following:  Since  motion  depends  upon  heat,  a 
nebula  of  the  intensest  heat  would  move  forever  in 
a  straight  path  with  uniform  velocity.  But  all 
nebulae  decrease  in  the  intensity  of  their  heat  and 
motive  power  as  a  result  of  their  steady  radiation  of 
heat  into  space.  The  path  of  a  cooling  nebula  will 
depart  more  and  more  from  a  straight  line  and  be- 
come more  and  more  curved,  the  cooling  body  tend- 
ing towards  a  position  of  rest  at  the  vertex  of  the 
resulting  spiral  or  conical  path.  (A  body  that  moves 
at  first  in  a  straight  line  and  then  through  paths  that 
increase  in  curvature  towards  a  point  of  rest  traces 
out  a  spiral.) 

The  cooling  surface  of  a  nebula  evolves  into  an 
atmosphere  of  heavier  flames  which  becomes  a  burden 
which  the  weightless,  swift  white  light  conveys 
through  space.  The  nebula's  velocity  will  decrease 
as  it  itself  becomes  cooler,  and  its  planetary  burden 
heavier.  The  cast-off  planets  are  rebound  to  the 
parent-nebula  through  the  tie  of  gravitation,  and  are 
drawn  through  space  by  the  nebula's  force.  Those 
white  nebulae  that  are  the  youngest  and  the  least 
cooled  will  move  the  fastest  and  in  the  least-curved 
paths.  Other  nebulae  will  move  more  slowly  and  in 
more  curved  paths,  in  inverse  proportion  to  the 
quantity  of  heat  still  concentrated  in  them  and  not 
yet  lost  by  radiation  and  by  planetary  formation, 
and  in  proportion  also  to  the  planetary  bur- 
den drawn  through  space.  That  nebula  that  first 
entered  space,  and  is  the  oldest  and  most  advanced 


54  Conscience. 

in  the  evolution  of  the  system  of  sun  and  planets, 
will  have  the  heaviest  burden  of  planets,  for  its 
planets  will  be  the  ones  that  have  been  cooling  the 
longest  and  that  have  increased  most  in  weight  as  a 
result  of  cooling.  The  path  of  that  oldest  nebula 
will  be  the  most  curved  of  all  the  stellar  paths,  and 
it  will  move  more  slowly  than  any  other  star. 

Our  sun  occupies  a  central  position  within  a 
spiral  group  of  stars.  If  the  diurnal  revolution  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  about  the  earth  be  interpreted 
as  real,  and  not  as  due  to  the  actual  rotation  of  our 
earth,  our  sun  moves  daily  in  a  circle  of  greater 
curvature  than  does  any  other  star,  since  it  keeps  to 
a  central  position  within  the  vast  disc-like  space 
along  the  outer  edge  of  which  the  stars  nearest  to 
our  sun  in  space  move  in  vast  circles.  It  would  fol- 
low that  our  sun,  having  the  path  of  greatest  curva- 
ture, is  the  first  and  oldest  nebula ;  —  a  fact  which 
is  further  confirmed  by  the  present  nebulae  being 
more  distant  from  our  solar  system  than  are  the 
stars.  Our  sun  would  then  be  the  star  that  had 
radiated  the  greatest  quantity  of  its  original  heat, 
and  that  had  the  heaviest  planetary  burden,  since  its 
planets  have  been  cooling  longest  in  space. 

The  first  body  in  the  heavens  to  come  to  rest  would 
be  the  oldest  nebula's  oldest  planet,  the  coldest  and 
heaviest  body  in  the  heavens.  That  body  would  be 
the  first  to  reach  the  vertex  of  the  conical  path  which 
its  sun  and  other  stars  and  nebula?  pursue  in  space 
as  they  change  from  rectilinear  to  more  and  more 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    55 

curved  paths.  If  the  sun  is  the  oldest  nebula,  which 
is  its  oldest  planet?  The  remoter  planets  from  the 
earth  are  the  younger.  "  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  Ura- 
nus and  Neptune,  do  not  seem  yet  to  have  cooled  off 
to  anything  like  the  earth's  condition."  1  Mercury, 
Venus,  Mars  and  the  Earth  are  "  not  very  different 
in  density  and  probably  roughly  alike  in  physical 
constitution."  2  The  earth's  great  age  is  testified  to 
by  the  evidence  brought  forward  by  geologists  and 
biologists.  Ages  that  are  to  be  reckoned  in  millions 
of  years  have  elapsed  since  the  first  formation  of  a 
solid  crust  on  the  surface  of  the  ever-cooling  earth, 
and  the  crust's  evolution  into  its  present  condition, 
with  its  continents  that  have  been  long  eras  in  rising 
above  the  surface  of  the  sea,  with  its  slowly-formed 
sedimentary  rocks  and  rocks  composed  of  myriads  of 
minute  shells  of  organisms,  with  its  vast  coal  areas 
formed  gradually  from  primeval  forests,  and  with  its 
highly  complex  organisms  evolved  from  simple  cells 
during  the  course  of  ages.  The  solid  crust  of  the 
earth-planet  is  of  great  age,  then ;  while  some  of  the 
planets  of  the  sun  have  not  yet  formed  a  first  solid 
crust. 

Unless  it  is  the  earth  that  is  the  oldest  planet  of  the 
oldest  star,  and  is  the  first  heavenly  body  to  come  to 
rest  at  the  central  point  within  the  volume  of  space, 
because  its  matter  is  too  cooled  and  heavy  to  be 
drawn  any  longer  through  space  by  the  ever-cooling 

i  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 
s  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 


56  Conscience. 

and  weakening  sun-power,  then  the  earth's  motion 
would  not  differ  from  the  type  of  planetary  motion 
which  applies  at  the  present  day  to  all  the  other 
planets  of  the  sun.  Copernicus  would  in  that  event 
be  justified  in  his  argument  that  this  planet  rotates 
daily  about  its  axis  and  revolves  annually  about  the 
sun,  as  do  the  other  planets.  If,  however,  Tycho 
Brahe  rightly  held  that  the  earth  is  at  rest,  and  if 
the  sun,  still  drawing  through  space  the  planets  that 
are  younger  and  lighter  than  the  earth-planet,  re- 
volves around  the  axis  of  the  conical  path  of  heavenly 
bodies  at  the  vertex  of  which  the  earth  has  come  to 
rest,  then  there  is  a  real,  not  a  merely  apparent 
diurnal  revolution  of  the  heavens,  and  the  heavenly 
bodies  are  bound  together  in  one  vast  system,  and 
truly  form  a  universe. 

"  When  we  look  at  the  heavens  on  a  clear  night, 
we  perceive  a  concave  hemisphere  on  which  are 
strewn  multitudes  of  bright  points.  As  we  watch 
these  hour  after  hour,  we  find  that  they  are  carried 
round  precisely  as  though  they  were  fixed  on  the 
interior  surface  of  a  spherical  shell  turning  on  a 
fixed  axis." 1  "  Eelatively  to  the  earth,  the  star- 
sphere  rotates  from  east  to  west  once  in  twenty-four 
sidereal  hours." 2  "  The  ancients  accounted  for 
these  fundamental  and  obvious  facts  by  supposing 
that  the  stars  are  really  attached  to  the  celestial 
sphere,  and  that  this  sphere  really  turns  daily  in  the 

1  Encyclopaedia   Britannica,  Astronomy. 

2  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Astronomy. 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    57 

manner  indicated." 1  "  The  earliest  astronomical 
system  was  that  in  which  this  globe  was  supposed  to 
be  at  rest  in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  all  the  heav- 
enly bodies  revolving  around  it  in  the  space  of 
twenty-four  hours.  The  theory  which  assigned  the 
earth  to  this  position  in  the  universe  is  known  as  the 
Ptolemaic  or  geocentric  system.  It  remained  the  ac- 
cepted system  until  the  time  of  Copernicus,  whose 
hypothesis  or  discovery  that  the  sun  is  the  actual 
centre  of  the  planetary  motions,  and  that  the  earth 
revolves  on  its  own  axis,  introduces  the  second  great 
era  in  the  progress  of  astronomy."  2 

Either  the  stars  revolve  daily  around  a  common 
axis  and  the  earth  lies  at  rest  on  that  axis,  or  the 
earth  itself  rotates.  If  the  Copernican  theory  be 
accepted,  and  the  earth  be  considered  a  rotating 
body,  which  rotation  causes  an  apparent  diurnal 
revolution  of  the  stars,  and  the  earth  be  considered 
to  be  revolving  in  an  orbit  about  the  sun,  the  modern 
science  of  astronomy  is  enabled  by  this  theory  to  ex- 
plain the  motions  of  the  planets  of  the  sun.  But  the 
theory  goes  no  farther  in  its  power  of  explanation 
than  the  solar  planets.  It  does  not  discover  any 
rational  system  for  the  vast  stellar  universe  beyond 
our  small  solar  system;  it  can  throw  no  light  upon 
the  causes  of  the  motions  of  the  stars  and  of  our  sun, 
and  upon  the  nature  of  the  stellar  paths.  The  Coper- 
nican theory  revolutionized  man's  conception  of  the 

1  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

2  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopedia. 


58  Conscience. 

universe  and  of  his  own  place  in  Nature's  system; 
it  substituted  for  the  former  view  that  religion  gave 
of  man's  importance  in  the  plan  of  creation,  a  view 
of  man's  insignificance.  Man's  dwelling  was  no 
longer  the  centre  of  the  universe,  he  was  merely  on 
"  a  little  scrap  of  a  planet "  that  revolved  around  a 
star  of  only  medium  size :  "  the  earth,  like  the  rest  of 
the  planets,  is  being  whirled  through  space  with  the 
sun,  we  know  not  why  or  whither." 

If  it  be  true  that  heat  is  the  cause  of  motion, — 
the  science  of  physics  recognizes  the  close  rela- 
tion tha.t  exists  between  heat  and  motion  —  then  the 
intensely  hot  stars  and  nebulaB  could  not  be  moving 
so  slowly  as  to  appear  "  fixed,"  which  conclusion 
is,  however,  necessary  when  the  earth  is  regarded  as 
a  rotating  body  and  the  revolution  of  the  heavens  is 
considered  merely  apparent,  not  real.  If  it  be  true 
that  white  heat  or  light  constitutes  the  substance  of 
the  nuclei  of  nebulae  and  stars,  we  know  that  light 
moves  swiftly,  consequently  these  fiery  bodies  must 
be  moving  with  enormous  velocities.  If  they  move 
with  the  velocity  of  light,  their  substance,  they  would 
in  a  short  time  greatly  alter  their  positions  in  space. 
If  their  apparent  daily  revolution  be  interpreted  as 
real,  this  condition  would  be  satisfied;  whereas,  if 
the  earth  be  considered  as  rotating  daily,  these  white 
flames  that  the  Copernican  theory  regards  as  the 
"  fixed  stars,"  do  not  have  attributed  to  them  the 
motive  power  they  inherently  possess  as  heat  and 
light 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    59 

"Copernicus  (1473-1543)  asserted  the  diurnal 
rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  and  showed  that  it 
would  fully  account  for  the  apparent  diurnal  revolu- 
tion of  the  stars."  *  The  argument  which  Coper- 
nicus brought  forward  and  which  must  he  considered 
is  the  following :  "  Which,  then,  is  more  likely  to  be 
in  motion,  the  earth  or  the  whole  universe  outside  of 
it?  In  whatever  proportion  the  heavens  are  greater 
than  the  earth,  in  the  same  proportion  must  their 
motion  be  more  rapid  to  carry  them  round  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  Ptolemy  himself  shows  that  the  heav- 
ens were  so  immense  that  the  earth  was  but  a  point 
in  comparison,  and,  for  anything  that  is  known,  they 
may  extend  into  infinity.  Then  we  should  require 
an  infinite  velocity  of  revolution.  Therefore,  it  is 
far  more  likely  that  it  is  this  comparative  point  that 
turns,  and  that  the  universe  is  fixed,  than  the  re- 
verse." 2 

The  following  may  be  presented  as  an  answer: 
All  heavenly  bodies  have  evolved  from  nebulae,  and 
all  nebula?  have  originated  from  the  realm  of  Light 
on  the  outermost  borders  of  space.  Heat  being  en- 
ergy and  motive  power,  the  clouds  of  intensest  white 
heat  would  possess  infinite  velocity  if  they  did  not 
decrease  in  intensity  by  radiation  of  some  heat  from 
the  moment  that  they  entered  space,  their  enormous 
velocity  decreasing  in  the  same  proportion  as  their 
intensity  of  heat  decreased.  The  oldest  and  coldest 

1  Young,  General  Astronomy. 
sNewcomb,  Popular  Astronomy, 


60  Conscience. 

heavenly  body  would  be  the  first  body  that  came  to 
rest  To  the  question  of  Copernicus,  "  Which,  then, 
is  more  likely  to  be  in  motion,  the  earth  or  the  whole 
universe  outside  of  it  ?  "  the  answer  would  be :  The 
whole  universe  outside  the  earth  is  more  likely  to  be 
in  motion  if  all  heavenly  bodies  are  various  intensi- 
ties of  the  primordial  substance  heat  and  if  heat  is 
motive  power.  The  earth-planet  with  its  solid  crust 
and  its  central  position  in  space  is  most  likely  the 
oldest  and  coldest  planet,  and  would  more  likely  be 
"  fixed  "  than  the  fiery  stars  that  possess  power  of 
motion  and  energy.  To  the  second  part  of  the  argu- 
ment of  Copernicus,  "  In  whatever  proportion  the 
heavens  are  greater  than  the  earth,  in  the  same  pro- 
portion must  their  motion  be  more  rapid  to  carry 
them  round  in  twenty-four  hours,"  may  be  answered : 
The  heavenly  bodies  are  arranged  in  space  according 
to  their  age,  the  youngest  bodies  that  have  greatest 
heat  and  velocity  are  the  ones  that  are  remotest  from 
the  earth  and  the  centre  of  space.  While  these 
nebulse,  if  they  revolved  through  diurnal  circles, 
would  have  an  almost  infinite  distance  to  traverse, 
they  would  move  with  almost  infinite  velocity. 

Before  the  Copernican  theory  supplanted  the  the- 
ory that  the  earth  is  fixed  and  the  stars  revolve,  it  was 
supposed  that  the  stars  were  merely  luminous  points 
fastened  on  a  revolving  sphere,  that  the  earth  lay  at 
rest  at  the  central  point  within  the  spherical  volume, 
and  that  the  whole  sphere,  turned  daily.  But  if  the 
early  conception  of  fixed  stars  on  a  revolving  sphere 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.   61 

is  given  up,  and  the  stars  are  acknowledged  to  be 
moving  in  separate  and  various-sized  orbits  of  their 
own,  what  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the 
earth  appears  to  be  the  centre  of  all  stellar  orbits? 
Further,  why  should  all  the  stars  complete  their 
revolutions  in  the  same  period  of  time,  a  sidereal 
day,  if  some  stars  have  to  traverse  larger  paths  than 
do  others  in  this  period  ? 

Let  us  consider  first  why  the  earth  should  appear 
to  be  the  centre  of  the  diurnal  circles  of  the  stars. 
Our  present  solar  system  was  in  the  beginning  in 
the  form  of  one  nebula,  which  originated  on  the 
outermost  limits  of  space,  in  the  region  of  either  the 
north  or  the  south  galactic-polar  plane.  As  this 
nebula  was  once  intense  heat,  with  no  retinue  of 
planets,  it  moved  in  a  path  of  the  slightest  curvature 
along  the  outer  borders  of  space.  It  is  immaterial 
whether  space  is  conceived  as  spherical  or  cubical, 
for  the  nebula  cooling  at  once  from  infinite  fire  would 
from  the  first  pursue  a  path  not  perfectly  straight, 
but  of  little  curvature, — >a  circle  of  almost  infinite 
circumference.  As  this  nebula's  velocity  decreased 
with  the  decrease  of  its  fire's  intensity  and  on  account 
of  the  ever-increasing  planetary  burden  of  cooler 
matter  which  its  force  conveyed  through  space,  its 
path  would  become  more  and  more  curved ;  it  would 
no  longer  move  along  the  borders  of  space  but  would 
approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  central  region  of 
space.  Since  the  solar  system  at  present  lies  in  the 
galactic  plane,  the  plane  farthest  from  the  two  galac- 


62  Conscience. 

tic-polar  planes,  being  midway  between  them,  we 
see  that  the  first  nebula  in  its  ever-narrowing  spiral 
path  did  not  remain  in  the  plane  of  the  galactic 
pole  but  advanced  from  this  outer  realm  of  space 
towards  the  central  plane  of  space.  When  the  first 
nebula  reached  the  galactic  plane,  it  would  be  mov- 
ing through  a  circle  of  great  curvature,  and  would  be 
approaching  the  central  point  of  the  volume  of  space. 
The  path  of  this  first  nebula  would  not  be  an  ever- 
narrowing  spiral  in  one  plane,  the  plane  of  the  galac- 
tic pole,  but  a  drawn-out  spiral,  or  conical  surface, 
the  base  of  the  cone  being  the  vast  circle  which  the 
nebula  pursued  as  its  path  in  the  galactic-polar  plane, 
and  the  vertex  being  the  position  of  rest  at  the  cen- 
tral point  of  the  volume  of  space. 

The  first  nebula  as  it  passed  through  the  various 
stages  of  evolution  that  led  to  our  present  solar  sys- 
tem advanced  within  the  volume  of  space  from  one 
of  the  two  galactic-polar  planes,  occupying  in  suc- 
cession positions  in  space  that  are  now  occupied  by 
present  irresolvable  nebulae,  resolvable  nebulae,  and 
stars  of  the  galaxy,  until  finally  it  has  reached  the 
central  region  within  the  galaxy.  Since  all  nebulae 
originate  in  the  outer  regions  of  space  and  since  their 
motive  power  tends  to  undergo  similar  changes  as 
they  cool  more  and  more,  the  conical  path  of  the  first 
nebula  would  be  the  path  of  all  subsequent  nebulae 
that  started  from  the  same  galactic-polar  region  of 
space  as  this  nebula.  Nebulae  starting  from  the 
.other  galactic-golar  region  would  also  trace  out  a 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.   63 

conical  surface,  the  central  point  of  the  volume  of 
space  being  the  common  vertex  of  the  cone  that  had 
its  base  in  the  north  galactic-polar  plane  and  of  the 
cone  that  had  its  base  in  the  south  galactic-polar 
plane.  The  first  nebula  or  our  solar  system  has  al- 
ready approached  the  central  region  of  space  where 
the  common  vertex  of  the  two  conical  surfaces  lies, 
while  younger,  later  nebulae  are  in  earlier  portions  of 
the  conical  paths,  their  positions  along  the  two 
conical  surfaces  being  in  accordance  with  their  ages, 
the  younger  heavenly  bodies  being  nearer  the  base 
of  the  conical  surface,  older  ones  that  have  already 
evolved  into  solar  systems  nearer  the  vertex.  The 
earth,  being  the  oldest  planet  of  the  first  nebula,  is 
the  first  heavenly  body  to  reach  the  common  vertex 
of  the  two  conical  surfaces,  the  position  of  rest  at  the 
centre  of  space,  while  all  other  heavenly  bodies  are 
still  pursuing  some  part  of  the  conical  path  from 
either  the  north  or  south  galactic-polar  plane  towards 
the  centre  of  space.  Thus,  as  the  vertex  of  the  cones 
where  the  earth  lies  is  on  the  axis  of  the  two  conical 
surfaces,  those  heavenly  bodies  that  move  by  their 
own  force  and  not  under  the  controlling  influence  of 
solar  gravitation,  that  is  to  say,  all  true  stars  or  suns 
and  nebulae  appear  to  be  revolving  daily  around  the 
earth  as  a  centre,  whereas  they  in  their  conical  path 
are  revolving  around  the  axis  of  the  two  cones,  and 
present  this  appearance  to  the  earth  that  lies  at  a 
point  on  that  long  axis.  The  planes  of  these  diurnal 
circles  are  parallel  to  one  another.  The  nearest  heav- 


64  Conscience. 

enly  bodies  to  the  earth's  position  in  space  seem  to 
move  in  the  largest  diurnal  circles,  whereas  the  op- 
posite is  true,  the  vast  distance  of  the  nebulae  dwarf- 
ing the  appearance  of  the  size  of  their  paths. 

From  the  galactic-polar  regions  of  the  youngest 
heavenly  bodies  that  are  still  irresolvable  nebula?, 
we  advance  to  the  regions  of  the  resolvable  nebulas, 
—  nebulas  just  breaking  up  into  solar  systems;  and 
then  to  the  central  plane  of  space,  the  plane  of  the 
galaxy,  where  solar  systems  are  in  well-advanced 
stages  of  evolution;  and  at  last  to  the  centre  of  this 
plane,  that  is,  the  centre  of  space,  where  lies  our 
solar  system,  the  oldest  in  the  heavens.  The  heav- 
enly bodies  are  thus  seen  to  be  arranged  in  space 
according  to  their  respective  ages,  the  youngest  at 
present  tracing  the  earliest  part  of  the  conical  sur- 
face that  all  nebulae  would  in  time  complete,  our  sun, 
having  traversed  more  of  the  entire  path  than  has 
any  other  star.  The  stars  of  the  galaxy  are  seen  to 
have  a  spiral  arangement  in  space ;  they  are  numer- 
ous enough  to  outline  distinctly  that  belt  of  the  entire 
conical  surface  which  they  are  at  present  tracing 
out.  Their  spiral  arrangement  results  from  their 
pursuing  each  some  special  portion  of  a  common 
conical  path. 

The  irresolvable  nebulas  disappear  as  we  approach 
the  direction  of  the  galactic  plane,  for  as  they  ad- 
vance from  the  galactic-polar  regions  along  the 
conical  path  they  evolve  into  resolvable  nebulas  or 
star-clusters,  the  early  stage  of  solar  systems.  The 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    65 

number  of  stars  increases  more  and  more  as  we  ap- 
proach the  direction  of  the  galactic  plane,  for  what 
were  once  single  heavenly  bodies  —  irresolvable 
nebulae  —  break  up  in  these  inner  regions  of  space 
into  suns  with  ever-growing  retinues  of  planets. 
There  are  then  more  heavenly  bodies  in  the  galactic 
plane  than  in.  any  other  direction  in  space  simply  be- 
cause, by  the  time  nebulae  have  reached  this  inner 
realm  of  space,  they  have  evolved  into  advanced 
stages  of  solar  systems,  each  sun  having  several 
planets.  What  would  be  only  one  heavenly  body,  a 
vast  nebula,  at  the  galactic-polar  region  would  become 
a  sun  and  many  planets  by  the  time  it  reached  the 
central  plane.  The  aggregation  of  heavenly  bodies 
in  the  Milky  Way  thus  results  from  the  evolution  of 
once  single  nebulae  into  solar  systems. 

The  true  stars  or  suns  are  those  heavenly  bodies 
that  still  retain  in  their  nucleus  the  primordial  sub- 
stance white  flame.  These  true  stars  will  outshine 
the  planets,  that  are  still  luminous  atmospheres,  or 
sun-illuminated  spheres,  and  that  appear  as  "  stars  of 
lesser  magnitude."  The  true  stars  or  suns  will  be 
bright  enough  to  be  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  while 
the  planets  will  not  be.  Now  we  find  that  "  the  six 
or  seven  thousand  stars  around  us,  which  are  easily 
seen  by  the  naked  eye,  are  scattered  in  space  with  a 
near  approach  to  uniformity."  1  That  is,  there  is  a 
uniform  distribution  of  true  stars  or  suns  in  space, 
a  fact  which  points  to  there  being  a  regular  and  equal 
1  Newcomb,  Popular  Astronomy. 


'v 


66  Conscience. 

interval  between  the  births  of  successive  nebulae  on 
the  borders  of  space. 

If  nebulae  and  suns  have  sufficient  motive  power 
to  complete  large  circular  paths  about  the  conical  axis 
in  a  short  time,  what  is  the  explanation  of  the  har- 
mony in  the  periods  of  these  stellar  revolutions,  why 
do  all  stars  complete  a  circle  in  the  same  sidereal 
day  ?  Now  pendulums  vibrating  on  our  earth  under 
the  force  of  gravity  complete  their  vibrations  in 
equal  periods  of  time  under  certain  conditions.  The 
stars  may  be  represented  as  pendulum-balls  sus- 
pended from  a  common  line,  the  axis  of  the  conical 
surface  over  some  portion  of  which  each  is  revolving 
or  making  a  complete  vibration.  These  pendulums 
would  be  of  different  lengths,  but  their  lengths  would 
vary  in  a  regular  manner,  the  longest  pendulums 
being  the  youngest  nebula?  revolving  near  the  conical 
base,  the  shortest  the  oldest  bodies  revolving  near  the 
conical  vertex.  But  the  force  that  moves  these  pen- 
dulum-balls would  also  vary  in  a  regular  manner, 
the  longest  pendulums  being  the  youngest  and  hottest 
stars  that  have  most  energy,  the  shortest  the  coolest 
and  the  slowest  in  their  motions.  Thus  the  longest 
pendulums  would  have  the  greatest  force  or  power  of 
motion,  and  the  motive  power  would  decrease  as  the 
circles  of  the  stellar  paths  decreased  in  size.  Now 
the  periods  of  pendulums  vary  directly  as  their 
lengths  and  inversely  as  the  force  that  causes  their 
motion.  If  the  motive  power  or  force  remained  a 
constant  for  all  the  star-pendulums,  the  shortest  in 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    67 

length  would  complete  their  circles  in  the  shortest 
periods.  But  the  motive  power  varies  with  the 
length,  the  longer  star-pendulums  having  more  force. 
Thus  the  decrease  in  length  being  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  the  decrease  in  force,  the  period  or  time 
of  revolution  remains  a  constant,  or  all  stars  complete 
their  circles  in  the  same  period  of  time.  The  planets 
of  the  sun  revolve  about  the  sun,  and  not  about  the 
conical  axis  as  their  centre,  and  their  periods  differ 
from  those  of  the  stars. 

The  planets  appear  to  observers  on  the  earth  to 
move  in  elliptical  orbits  about  the  sun.  Now  a  cir- 
cle seen  sidewise  appears  to  be  an  ellipse.  It  may 
be  that  the  solar  planets  move  in  what  would  be  seen 
to  be  truly  circular  paths  if  they  were  viewed  from 
the  sun  about  which  they  gravitate.  If  a  planetary- 
orbit  is  really  a  circle  about  the  sun  as  centre,  equal 
arcs  of  this  circle  are  traversed  in  equal  periods  of 
time  or  the  planet  moves  with  uniform  velocity  along 
its  path,  the  planet  appearing  to  observers  on  the 
earth  to  traverse  some  sections  of  its  course  with 
greater  speed  than  others  because  distance  dwarfs  the 
size  of  the  more  remote  portions  of  the  path. 

According  to  the  Copernican  theory,  the  earth  not 
only  rotates  daily  on  its  axis,  but  completes  in  the 
period  of  a  year  an  elliptical  orbit  about  the  sun 
which  lies  at  one  of  the  foci  of  the  ellipse.  This 
elliptical  orbit  about  the  sun  explains  why  the  earth 
is  nearer  the  sun  at  one  time  of  the  year  than  at 
another.  It  also  readily  explains  the  annual  paral- 


68  Conscience. 

lax  of  the  "  fixed  stars  " :  the  fixed  stars  seem  to 
describe  small  orbits  annually  because  the  earth  from 
which  the  observations  of  the  stars'  positions  in  the 
heavens  are  taken  is  itself  making  an  annual  orbit. 
If,  however,  the  theory  be  held  that  the  earth  has 
come  to  rest  in  the  centre  of  space,  the  cause  of  the 
sun's  apparent  motion  among  the  stars,  which  mo- 
tion brings  it  nearer  to  the  earth  at  one  time  of  the 
year  than  at  another,  and  the  cause  of  the  annual 
parallax  of  the  stars,  await  explanation. 

The  Foucault  pendulum  experiment  proves  one 
of  two  things:  either  it  demonstrates  the  earth's  ro- 
tation, or  it  proves  that  a  pendulum  free  to  shift  its 
plane  of  vibration  actually  shifts  it  constantly.  The 
experiment  is  the  following :  "  From  the  dome  of 
the  Pantheon  in  Paris  "  Foucault  "  hung  a  heavy 
iron  ball  about  a  foot  in  diameter  by  a  wire  more 
than  200  feet  long.  A  circular  rail  some  twelve 
feet  across,  with  a  little  ridge  of  sand  built  upon  it, 
was  placed  in  such  a  way  that  a  pin  attached  to 
the  swinging  ball  would  just  scrape  the  sand  and 
leave  a  mark  at  each  vibration.  To  put  the  ball  in 
motion  it  was  drawn  aside  by  a  cotton  cord  and  left 
to  come  absolutely  to  rest ;  then  the  cord  was  burned 
off,  and  the  pendulum  started  to  swing  in  a  true 
plane.  But  this  plane  seemed  to  deviate  slowly 
towards  the  right,  so  that  the  pin  on  the  pendulum- 
ball  cut  the  sand-ridge  in  a  new  place  at  each  swing, 
shifting  at  a  rate  which  would  carry  the  line  com- 
pletely around  in  about  32  hours,  if  the  pendulum 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    69 

did  not  first  come  to  rest.  In  fact  the  floor  of  the 
Pantheon  was  actually  and  visibly  turning  under  the 
plane  of  the  pendulum  vibration.  .  .  .  Really 
in  this  case  the  plane  of  vibration  remains  fixed, 
while  the  earth  turns  under  it."  *  The  question 
arises,  which  is  the  true  explanation  of  the  apparent 
shifting  of  the  pendulum's  plane  of  vibration,  an 
actual  shifting,  or  the  rotation  of  the  earth  beneath 
it  ?  If  the  arguments  already  brought  forward  in 
support  of  the  actual  diurnal  revolution  of  the  stars 
be  accepted  as  convincing,  the  earth  does  not  rotate. 
The  experiment  would  then  prove  that  a  freely  mov- 
ing pendulum  constantly  shifts  its  plane  of  vibration. 
The  sun  and  stars  could  be  considered  pendulum 
balls  vibrating  around  the  conical  axis ;  the  Foucault 
experiment  would  prove  that  they  constantly  shift 
their  plane  of  vibration.  If  they  made  a  complete 
circuit  of  planes  in  the  period  of  a  year,  there  would 
result  an  annual  parallax  of  the  sun  and  stars.  The 
so-called  "  epicyclic  motion  of  the  planets  "  could  be 
attributed  to  the  planets  moving  around  the  sun  as 
centre  when  this  centre  itself  is  constantly  shifting 
the  planes  in  which  it  vibrates  or  revolves. 

Astronomy  contributes  its  share  to  the  proof  that 
heat  is  the  all-important  factor  in  the  study  of  mat- 
ter. It  has  been  said  that  "  every  known  property  of 
a  piece  of  matter,  except  its  gravity  and  inertia, 
varies  with  variation  of  temperature."  2  Variation 

1  Young,  Elements  of  Astronomy. 

2  Lord  Kelvin. 


70  Conscience. 

of  temperature  causes  variation  even  of  gravity:  hot 
air  weighs  less  than  cold ;  steam  rises  in  opposition 
to  the  force  of  gravity,  while  water  flows  downward. 
A  body's  inertia,  even,  changes  with  variation  of 
temperature,  since  heat  causes  motion  and  cold  causes 
rest:  a  motionless  block  of  ice,  when  its  temperature 
is  raised,  becomes  moving,  rising  steam.  Thus  every 
property  of  a  piece  of  matter  varies  with  sufficient 
variation  of  the  temperature;  or  intensity  of  heat, 
the  primordial  substance  and  the  very  essence  of 
matter,  determines  what  properties  a  given  piece  of 
matter  will  possess. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  either  of  two 
theories  may  be  held  as  the  explanation  of  the  body 
of  facts  that  the  science  of  astronomy  has  collected. 
The  Copernican  theory  that  the  earth  rotates  daily 
on  its  axis  and  revolves  annually  about  the  sun  gives 
a  simple,  logical  explanation  of  the  observed  facts  by 
attributing  many  apparent  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  to  the  actual  motion  of  our  earth.  The 
strongest  point  of  the  theory  is  its  clear  explanation 
of  the  motions  of  the  planets  of  our  solar  system; 
its  weakest  point,  that  by  rejecting  many  apparent 
motions  of  heavenly  bodies  as  not  their  own  but  as 
due  to  the  earth's  motion,  it  can  discover  in  the  re- 
maining motions  of  those  bodies  no  signs  of  a  stellar 
system.  If  intensity  of  a  heavenly  body's  heat  is 
connected  with  its  motion  in  space,  the  Copernican 
theory  has  taken  no  account  of  the  fact.  Coper- 
nicus himself  considered  the  sun  and  stars  —  the 


The  Science  of  the  Heavenly  Bodies.    71 

very  bodies  that  have  greatest  heat  and  energy  —  as 
immovable  or  "  fixed."  His  view  was  the  follow- 
ing: "  The  heaven,  composed  of  stars  perfectly  at 
rest,  occupies  the  remotest  bounds  of  space,  then  the 
orbit  of  Saturn,  next  Jupiter,  Mars,  the  Earth  (ac- 
companied by  its  moon),  Venus,  Mercury,  and, 
lastly,  the  Sun  immovable  at  the  centre."  *  Since 
his  day,  however,  "  observations  on  the  motion  of  the 
sun-spots  have  .  .  .  established  the  fact  that 
the  sun  is  not  strictly  a  fixed  body,  around  which  the 
earth  revolves,  but  that  it  has  a  motion  of  its  own 
through  space."  2  The  spectroscope  has  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  stars  are  not  "  fixed  "  but  moving  bodies. 
The  sun  and  stars  must  nowadays  be  acknowledged 
to  be  moving,  though  the  system  of  these  motions 
was  not  sought  after  by  Copernicus  since  he  consid- 
ered them  immovable  in  space.  The  earth  cannot  be 
proved  to  be  in  motion  by  any  physical  method  that 
is  as  trustworthy  and  convincing  as  the  means  by 
which  the  sun  and  stars  have  been  proved  by  astron- 
omers to  be  in  motion. 

The  second  theory  maintains  that  the  earth  is  fixed 
and  that  all  other  heavenly  bodies  are  in  motion. 
This  theory  in  one  form  was  held  universally  before 
the  time  of  Copernicus,  and  was  defended  by  Tycho 
Brahe  even  when  Copernicus  had  proved  that  the 
motions  of  the  planets  centre  about  the  sun,  Tycho 
Brahe  maintaining  still  the  fixed  position  of  the 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britarmica,  Astronomy. 

2  Huxley,  Physiography, 


72  Conscience. 

earth,  making  the  other  planets  revolve  about  the  sun 
and  the  sun  itself  revolve  about  the  earth.  The  fix- 
ity of  the  cold  earth-planet  and  the  diurnal  revolu- 
tion of  the  stars  is  here  argued  for,  on  the  ground 
that  heat  is  motive  power,  and  that  the  white  light 
that  constitutes  the  nuclei  of  stars  moves  with  enor- 
mous velocity,  which  would  make  necessary  the 
actual  diurnal  revolution  of  the  heavens,  the  velocity 
attributed  at  the  present  day  to  the  stars  not  being 
compatible  with  the  known  velocity  of  light.  If  the 
earth  is  in  truth  fixed  and  the  other  heavenly  bodies 
revolve  daily,  one  vast  system  of  the  universe  actually 
exists,  though  the  explanation  of  this  system  may  be 
crude,  owing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  problems  to 
be  met.  Astronomy,  the  noblest  and  most  compre- 
hensive of  the  sciences,  has  the  largest  contribution 
for  scientific  philosophy;  it  is,  more  than  any  other 
science,  cosmical  in  its  nature,  and  the  manner  in 
which  its  facts  are  interpreted  will  determine  one's 
final  conception  of  Nature  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 


Biology  being  "  the  science  of  life,"  philosophy 
seeks  from  the  body  of  facts  collected  by  this  science 
an  answer  to  the  questions:  What  is  the  life-force 
itself?  What  relation  does  this  vital  force  bear  to 
the  physical  forces  of  nature?  What  connection 
exists  between  the  earth's  early  inorganic  and  its  later 
organic  history  ? 

Let  us  turn  to  the  sub-science  of  physiology  for 
light  upon  the  first  of  these  problems,  the  nature  of 
life.  "  The  structural  elements  from  which  all  liv- 
ing beings  are  built  up  are  called  cells."  *  "  Cells 
are  masses  of  protoplasm  containing  a  nucleus,  and 
this  sometimes  contains  a  nucleolus."  2  "  Proto- 
plasm and  nucleus  are  the  bearers  of  life."  3  "  Cells 
essentially  make  up  the  body  and  do  its 
work;  their  form  and  arrangement  determine  the 
form  of  the  organs;  their  activity,  the  function  of 
the  organs."  4  Anatomy  is  "  the  study  of  the  forms 
which  cells  and  intercellular  substances  assume; 

1  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 

2  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

3  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 

*  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course, 
73 


74  Conscience. 

physiology,     .      .      .     the  study  of  the  specific  ac- 
tivity of  the  cells."  * 

The  life-functions  are  the  same  in  nature  through- 
out the  organic  world,  the  difference  between  the 
various  ranks  of  plant  and  animal  life  being  due  to 
the  relative  simplicity  or  complexity  of  the  organs 
that  perform  these  life-functions  in  correspondingly 
simple  or  complex  ways.  Further,  all  living  beings 
are  composed  of  the  same  general  substances :  organic 
constituents  formed  from  the  chemical  elements 
oxygen,  carbon,  hydrogen  and  nitrogen,  and  inor- 
ganic constituents,  of  which  the  chief  are  water  and 
salts.  The  life-process  is  twofold :  it  consists  in  the 
storing  up  of  food,  and  the  oxidation  or  burning  of 
this  stored-up  fuel.  A  great  difference  between  the 
plant  and  animal  kingdoms  lies  in  their  respective 
powers  of  assimilating  the  chemical  substances  which 
become  transformed  into  their  body-substance  or 
protoplasm.  The  vegetable  kingdom  can  obtain  its 
food  from  the  inorganic  world,  the  animal  only  from 
the  organic.  When  the  food  has  once  been  assimi- 
lated by  plant  and  animal,  it  is  similarly  oxidized  or 
burned  by  both,  that  "  life "  may  be  maintained. 
"  There  is  no  doubt  that  all  the  living  protoplasm  of 
the  plant  undergoes  slow  oxidation,  with  evolution  of 
carbonic  anhydride.  In  the  green  parts,  and  in 
daylight,  this  process  of  respiration  is  disguised  by 
the  more  conspicuous  one  of  assimilation,  in  which 
carbonic  anhydride  is  decomposed  and  oxygen  given 
l  Martin,  The  Bwnan  Body,  Briefer  Course, 


The  Science  of  Life.  75 

off.  In  the  deeper  seated  cells,  and  in  all  parts  of 
the  plant  when  light  is  absent,  respiration  alone 
goes  on."  x 

"  The  body  is  like  a  stove  in  which  fuel  is  burned, 
and  the  chemical  action  resembles  that  in  any  other 
stove.  This  combustion  produces  heat,  and  our 
bodies  are  kept  warm  by  the  constant  fire  within  us. 
When  there  is  plenty  of  fuel  in  our  human 
furnaces,  the  oxygen  burns  that;  but  if  there  is  a 
deficiency,  the  destructive  oxygen  must  still  unite 
with  something,  and  so  it  combines  with  the  flesh ;  — 
first  the  fat,  and  the  man  grows  poor;  then  the 
muscles,  and  he  grows  weak;  finally  the  brain,  and 
he  becomes  crazed.  He  has  burned  up,  as  a  candle 
burns  out  to  darkness."  2 

"  As  each  organ  works  it  oxidizes ;  some  of  its  sub- 
stance is  broken  down  by  combination  with  oxygen 
brought  to  it  by  the  blood,  and  is  thus  converted 
into  burnt  waste  matter.  The  blood 
brings,  however,  not  merely  oxygen  but  also  food 
matters  in  solution.  These  ooze  through  the  walls  of 
the  blood  vessels,  and  are  taken  up  by  the  living  tis- 
sues and  built  into  new  tissues  like  themselves,  to 
replace  the  part  which  has  been  used  up  and  de- 
stroyed. This  building  and  repair  of  tissues  and  or- 
gans from  the  dissolved  food  obtained  from  the  blood 
is  known  as  assimilation  —  in  plain  English,  '  a 
making  alike.'  Each  living  tissue  takes  from  the 

1  Huxley  and  Martin,  Practical  Biology. 

2  Steele,  Chemistry. 


76  Conscience. 

blood  foods  which  are  not  like  itself,  and  builds  them 
up  into  a  form  of  matter  like  its  own.  The  converse 
process,  which  accompanies  all  vital  action,  the 
breaking  down  into  wastes  of  a  living  tissue  when  it 
works,  is  called  dissimilation,  or  '  a  making  un- 
like.7 "  1 

"  Carbon  forms  the  basis  of  all  the  organic  com- 
pounds of  our  body.  It  unites  with  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  to  form  fats  and  carbohydrates;  with  hydro- 
gen, oxygen,  nitrogen,  and  sulphur  to  form  proteid 
bodies."  2  "  Of  the  combustible  foodstuffs,  proteids 
serve  to  replace  the  body-proteids  destroyed  by  the 
physiological  combustion.  .  .  .  Proteids  con- 
tain all  the  elements  needed  for  replacing  organic 
substances  in  the  body;  fats  and  carbohydrates  con- 
tain only  a  part,  viz.  carbon,  oxygen  and  hydro- 
gen." 3  Proteids  serve  as  the  frame-work  of  the 
organic  machine  and  are  worn  out  much  less  rapidly 
than  the  fats  and  carbohydrates  which  serve  as  a 
ready  supply  of  easily-burnt  fuel.  "  Carbohydrates 
and  fats  are  the  chief  fuel  constituents  of  food. 
Both  are  readily  oxidized  in  the  body,  giving  off 
water  and  carbon  dioxide.  Their  oxidation  produces 
proportionately  more  heat  and  muscular  power  than 
that  of  proteids.  Both  are  transformed  into  the  fat 
of  the  body,  and  are  mainly  responsible  for  the  stor- 
age of  fat.  .  .  .  Necessary  as  are  the  carbo- 


1  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 

2  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 

3  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human-  Physiology. 


The  Science  of  Life.  77 

hydrates  and  fats,  like  the  albuminoids  and  other 
alimentary  principles,  none  of  them  alone  will  sup- 
port life."  1  The  ashes  of  the  organic  machine  or 
"  the  products  of  combustion  are  removed  from  the 
tissues,  in  which  the  combustion  takes  place,  by  the 
circulating  blood  and  lymph ;"  2  since  they  "  would 
only  clog  up  the  various  organs,  as  the  ashes  and 
smoke  of  an  engine  would  soon  put  out  its  fire  if  they 
were  allowed  to  accumulate  in  the  furnace."  3  "  That 
the  body  may  continue  to  exist,  new  material  for 
combustion  must  be  supplied  to  it  from  without. 
This  is  effected  by  the  partaking  of  nourishment 
which  is  made  absorbable  by  digestion,  and,  after  ab- 
sorption, supplied  to  the  tissues  by  the  blood  and 
then  assimilated."  * 

The  answer  of  physiology  to  the  question  of  the 
nature  of  the  vital  processes  is  then  the  following: 
There  is,  so  long  as  life  lasts,  a  constant  burning  of 
protoplasm  or  body-substance  by  inhaled  oxygen  gas, 
a  process  which  renders  necessary  a  renewing  of  the 
protoplasm  by  the  assimilation  of  food.  This  oxida- 
tion of  protoplasm  evolves  heat.  "  The  various 
plant-products  .  .  .  when  burned,  either  in  the 
body  as  food  or  in  the  air  as  fuel,  give  off  heat,"  5 
So  long  as  the  production  of  heat  is  not  emphasized, 
the  purpose  of  the  burning  of  the  body-substance  is 

1  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

2  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 
s  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 
*  Schenck  and  Gurber,  Human  Physiology. 
s  Steele,   Chemistry. 


78  Conscience. 

not  evident,  and  the  paradox  arises  that  life  is  de- 
rived from  the  destruction  or  death  of  the  body. 
"  All  our  life  is  produced  by  the  destruction  of  our 
bodies.  ~No  act  can  be  performed  except  by  the  wear- 
ing away  of  a  muscle.  No  thought  can  be  evolved 
except  at  the  expense  of  the  brain.  Hence  the  neces- 
sity for  food  to  supply  the  constant  waste  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  for  sleep  to  give  nature  time  to  repair  -the 
losses  of  the  day."  *  The  purpose  and  meaning  of 
this  constant  burning  of  the  substance  of  the  body  is 
seen,  however,  when  we  learn  that  heat  is  thereby 
generated ;  for  heat  is  energy  and  power.  The  body 
then  serves  only  as  the  means  to  a  definite  end,  it  sup- 
plies the  cold  liquid  and  solid  fuel  with  which  hot 
oxygen  gas  combines,  oxygen  evolving  in  this  act  of 
union  some  of  the  heat  it  had  in  the  state  of  a  free 
gas.  The  inhaled  oxygen  and  the  food  are .  merely 
the  means  that  serve  the  purpose  of  the  production 
of  heat.  Heat  is  the  very  life-force  then,  and  life 
lasts  only  so  long  as  the  physiological  combustion 
generates  it.  Food  is  stored  up  by  the  body  in  order 
thai  it  may  be  oxidized  and  heat  be  produced.  Every- 
thing that  breathes,  burns,  and  the  evolved  heat  is  its 
life.  Fire  is  the  vital  power  of  the  universe,  as  well 
as  the  energy  and  the  primordial  substance  of  so- 
called  inorganic  nature. 

The  source  of  the  heat  of  organic  beings  is  the 
oxygen  gas  they  breathe  in,  and  not  the  foods  they 
store  up.  There  are  two  objections  to  the  generally 

aSteele,  Chemistry. 


The  Science  of  Life.  79 

accepted  view  that  the  body,  in  "  constantly  forming 
complex  substances  from  simpler  ones "  is  "  thus 
storing  energy."  i  The  first  objection  is  that  heat 
is  always  lost,  not  absorbed  or  stored  up,  during  the 
formation  of  compounds;  chemical  union  evolves 
heat.  These  complex  compounds  of  the  body  have 
been  formed  by  several  acts  of  chemical  union  of 
once  free  elements  and  heat  has  been  lost  by  each  of 
these  acts  of  union.  It  is  the  reverse  process  to  chem- 
ical combination,  the  process  of  dissociation  into  sim- 
pler compounds  and  of  these  into  free  elements,  that 
requires  an  absorbing  or  storing  up  of  heat.  When 
then  the  question  is  raised  as  to  which  of  the  two 
bodies  in  the  act  of  oxidation  is  the  source  of  the 
generated  heat,  the  answer  must  be  that  free  oxygen 
gas  possesses  more  heat  and  is  at  higher  potential 
than  the  complex  carbon  compounds  in  the  liquid 
and  solid  states,  that  form  the  body-substance.  The 
heat  of  the  sunlight  dissociates  oxygen  from  the  com- 
pounds in  which  it  exists  in  the  food-materials 
absorbed  by  the  green  plants;  oxygen  escapes  from 
the  plants  into  the  atmosphere  as  a  free,  hot  gas, 
while  cold,  solid  carbon  is  left  behind  in  the  plants. 
This  uncombined  oxygen  gas  returned  to  the  earth's 
gaseous  atmosphere  will  evolve  the  heat  once  restored 
to  it  by  the  sunlight  when  it  enters  again  into  chem- 
ical union  with  carbon  and  other  fuels. 

The  second  objection  to  the  view  that  energy  is 
derived  from  the  complex  compounds  of  the  body  is 
i  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 


80  Conscience. 

that  in  that  event  energy  would  have  to  be  regarded 
as  assuming  at  times  a  passive  state,  becoming  merely 
"  potential."  But  energy  that  is  merely  potential  is 
not  energy  at  all,  energy  is  present  activity.  Nature 
accordingly  supplies  the  living  being  constantly  with 
a  small  quantity  of  active  oxygen;  there  can  be  no 
storing  of  oxygen  in  the  body  as  there  is  of  inactive, 
complex  compounds.  These  passive  substances  are 
stored  up  in  the  body  as  reserve  fuel  to  be  used  by  the 
oxygen  when  needed.  The  supply  then  of  oxygen  is 
steady  and  small,  and  its  activity  becomes  at  once 
effective.  "  We  all  know  that  if  the  supply  of  air 
be  cut  off,  a  man  will  die  in  a  few  minutes ;  his  food 
is  no  use  to  him  unless  he  gets  oxygen.  While  he 
usually  has  stored  up  in  his  body  an  excess  of  food 
matters,  he  has  little  or  no  reserve  of  oxygen."  *  The 
"  amount  of  inhaled  oxygen  is  a  measure  of  the 
extent  of  combustion  taking  place  in  the  body."  2 
More  oxygen  is  breathed  in  by  the  lungs  when  the 
organism  is  working  than  when  it  is  sleeping,  as 
more  combustion  and  heat-production  are  required. 
The  living  body  has  well  been  defined  as  "  a  heat- 
producing,  moving,  conscious  organism." 3  The 
evolved  heat  of  the  organism  constitutes  its  energy,  its 
power  of  moving,  its  working-force.  Thus  the  force 
the  body  can  exert  is  dependent  upon  the  amount  of 
heat  it  can  generate  by  its  process  of  combustion. 


1  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 

2  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 

3  Martin,   The   Human  Body. 


. 
OF  THF  \ 

UNIVERSITY 

The  Science  of  L 


OF  TH 

(  UNIVER 

ife. 

XgALIFOP 


"  The  energy  of  food  in  the  body  is  estimated  by  phys- 
iologists just  as  if  the  food  were  burned  outside  the 
body,  i.  e.,  in  heat  units  or  calories."  1  Since  we 
know  that  "  a  definite  amount  of  heat  can  be  obtained 
by  burning  a  definite  amount  of  a  given  substance,"  2 
we  can  calculate  the  '  fuel  values  ?  of  various  nutri- 
ents, that  is  to  say,  "  their  capacities  for  yielding 
heat  and  mechanical  power."  3  "  The  amount  of 
kinetic  energy  liberated  during  such  chemical  com- 
binations is  very  great;  a  kilogram  of  carbon  unit- 
ing with  oxygen  to  form  carbon  dioxide  sets  free  8080 
units  of  heat,  or  calories."  4  "  The  adult  resting 
human  being  produces  in  twenty-four  hours  about 
2400  calories,  or  in  one  hour  100  calories."  5  Energy 
"  cannot  be  created  from  nothing  ;  since  the  body 
constantly  expends  energy,  it  must  have  a  steady 
supply.  This  supply  comes  from  the  energy  liber- 
ated when  substances  in  the  body  are  burned,  or,  as 
the  chemists  say,  oxidized,  just  as  that  used  by  a 
locomotive  comes  from  the  burning  or  oxidation  of 
coal  or  wood  in  its  furnace."  6  "  Destructive 
metabolism  is  constantly  going  on,  the  processes  sup- 
plying heat  and  force  to  the  animal."  7  "  The  animal 
is  in  fact  a  machine,  fed  by  the  materials  it  derives 
from  the  vegetable  world,  as  a  steam-engine  is  fed 

1  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

2  Remsen,  Chemistry. 

s  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 
4  Martin,   The  Human  Body. 
B  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 
e  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 
7Bidgood,  Elementary  Biology. 


82  Conscience. 

with  fuel.  Like  the  steam-engine,  it  derives  its  mo- 
tive power  from  combustion."  1  "  The  locomotive  is 
an  inorganic  machine;  the  animal  is  an  organic 
machine."  2 

"  Of  all  the  energy  set  free  by  a  working  body,  at 
most  only  one-fourth  can  be  utilized  for  mechanical 
work;  the  remaining  three-fourths  is  set  free  as 
heat."  3  It  has  been  found  "  that  the  human  body  is 
a  better  and  more  efficient  machine  for  the  production 
of  energy  than  any  engine  yet  devised  by  man. 
.  .  .  It  will  yield  more  power  for  a  given 
amount  of  fuel  than  the  best  steam  engine  or  oil 
engine.  .  .  .  Whereas  the  most  economical 
steam  engine  delivers  in  actual  horse  power  only 
about  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  total  heat  value  of  the 
fuel  supplied,  a  first-class  athlete  produces  thirty-six 
per  cent,  or  nearly  three  times  as  much."  * 

There  is  greater  heat-production  in  the  higher 
organisms  that  represent  a  greater  life-force  than  in 
the  lower  plants  and  animals,  consequently  the  body- 
temperature  of  the  former  is  greater.  "  The  surface 
of  a  plant  .  .  .  exposed  to  the  air  is  very  great, 
so  that  the  heat  evolved  is  very  speedily  dissipated. 
Of  course,  where  the  greatest  metabolism  is  going  on, 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  reproductive  organs,  in  the 
growing  shoots  and  in  germinating  seeds,  there  the 
greatest  amount  of  heat  is  evolved.  Unless  specially 

1  Huxley,  Physiography. 

2  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 

s  Schenck  and  Gtirber,  Human  Physiology. 
*New  York  Herald,  May  19,  1901. 


The  Science  of  Life.  83 

protected,  however,  the  temperature  of  a  plant  seldom 
rises  above  that  of  the  surrounding  air,  for  the  reason 
above  stated.  It  is  more  frequently  beneath  the 
temperature  of  the  air,  owing  to  the  cooling  effect  of 
evaporation  from  the  exposed  parts."  1  "  All  ani- 
mals, so  long  as  they  are  alive,  are  the  seat  of  chem- 
ical changes  by  which  heat  is  liberated;  hence  all 
tend  to  be  somewhat  warmer  than  their  ordinary  sur- 
roundings, though  the  difference  may  not  be  notice- 
able unless  the  heat  production  is  considerable.  A 
frog  or  a  fish  is  a  little  hotter  than  the  air  or  water 
in  which  it  lives,  but  not  much;  the  little  heat  that 
it  produces  is  lost,  by  radiation  or  conduction,  almost 
at  once.  Hence  such  animals  have  no  proper  temper- 
ature of  their  own ;  on  a  warm  day  they  are  warm,  on 
a  cold  day  cold,  and  are  accordingly  known  as  change- 
able-temperatured  .  .  •  or  •  .  •  '  cold- 
blooded '  animals.  Man  and  other  mammals,  as  well 
as  birds,  on  the  contrary,  are  the  seat  of  very  active 
chemical  changes  by  which  much  heat  is  produced, 
and  so  maintain  a  tolerably  uniform  temperature  of 
their  own,  much  as  a  fire  does  whether  it  be  burning 
in  a  warm  or  a  cold  room.  ...  A  lizard 
basking  in  the  sun  on  a  warm  summer's  day 
may  be  quite  as  hot  as  a  man  usually  is;  but 
on  the  cold  day  the  lizard  becomes  cold,  while 
the  average  temperature  of  the  healthy  human 
body  is,  within  a  degree,  the  same  in  winter 
or  summer;  within  the  arctic  circle  or  on  the  equa- 

i  Gibson,  Elementary  Biology. 


84  Conscience. 

tor."  1  "  In  the  case  of  a  hot-blooded  animal  if  the 
temperature  of  the  air  decrease,  more  heat-producing 
food  (fats)  must  be  oxidized  to  keep  up  the  balance; 
if  the  temperature  increase,  less  food  is  of  course 
needed.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  animal  be  cold- 
blooded and  the  temperature  of  the  air  decrease, 
metabolism  is  diminished;  if  the  temperature  of  the 
air  increase,  metabolism  is  also  increased."  2 

"  The  test  of  life  is  usually  taken  to  be  the  per- 
formance of  life  functions,  the  assimilation  of  food 
and  excretion  of  waste,  the  breathing  in  of  oxygen, 
and  breathing  out  of  carbonic-acid  gas,  movement, 
feeling,  etc.  But  some  animals  can  actually  suspend 
all  of  these  functions,  or  at  least  reduce  them  to  such 
a  minimum  that  they  can  not  be  perceived  by  the 
strictest  examination,  and  yet  not  be  dead.  That  is, 
they  can  renew  again  the  performance  of  the  life 
processes.  Bears  and  some  other  animals,  among 
them  many  insects,  spend  the  winter  in  a  state  of 
death-like  sleep.  Perhaps  it  is  but  sleep;  and  yet 
hibernating  insects  can  be  frozen  solid  and  remain 
frozen  for  weeks  and  months,  and  still  retain  the 
power  of  actively  living  again  in  the  following 
spring." 3  The  little  animal  known  as  the  bear- 
animalcule  becomes  desiccated  when  the  pond  in 
which  it  lives  dries  up.  "  If  after  a  long  time  — 
years  even  —  one  of  these  organic  dust  particles,  one 


*  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 

2  Gibson,   Elementary  Biology. 

s  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 


The  Science  of  Life.  85 

of  these  dried-up  bear-animalcules,  is  put  into  water, 
a  strange  thing  happens.  The  body  swells  and 
stretches  out,  the  skin  becomes  smooth  instead  of  all 
wrinkled  and  folded,  and  the  legs  appear  in  normal 
shape.  The  body  is  again  as  it  was  years  before,  and 
after  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  several  hours  (depend- 
ing on  the  length  of  time  the  animal  has  lain  dormant 
and  dried)  slow  movements  of  the  body  parts  begin, 
and  soon  the  animalcule  crawls  about,  begins  again 
its  life  where  it  had  been  interrupted.  Various 
other  small  animals,  such  as  vinegar  eels  and  certain 
Protozoa,  show  similar  powers.  Certainly  here  is 
an  interesting  problem  in  life  and  death."  Just  as 
an  inorganic  machine  will,  if  its  structure  remain  in- 
tact, perform  work  again  when  a  new  fire  is  kindled 
in  it  after  the  first  fire  has  died  out;  so,  when  the 
atmospheric  oxygen  heated  by  the  spring  sunlight 
ignites  the  phosphorus  of  the  cells  and  starts  combus- 
tion of  the  protoplasm,  a  simple  organism  will  live 
again,  provided  its  organs  be  perfectly  preserved  and 
able  to  continue  this  rekindled  process  of  heat  pro- 
duction. The  winter  cold  extinguishes  the  fire  and 
life  of  a  low  organism,  but  preserves  the  body  from 
decomposition;  even  freezing  does  not  injure  the 
body.  Desiccation  is  as  effective  as  is  cold  in  pre- 
serving the  body  from  decay.  When  the  dried-up 
bear-animalcule  is  put  again  into  its  element,  the 
body  regains  the  water  it  had  lost,  and  since  there  has 
been  no  other  change  in  the  body,  it  is  restored  to 
•i  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 


86  Conscience. 

the  condition  in  which  it  formerly  was  when  the 
animalcule  was  alive.  The  oxygen  gas  dissolved  in 
the  water  rekindles  the  combustion  of  the  uninjured 
cell.  A  dead  fly  is  often  restored  to  life  by  the  sun- 
shine, the  sun-heated  oxygen  again  igniting  the  com- 
bustion process  of  its  body.  With  the  coming  of 
spring,  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  becomes  hotter 
and  more  active  and  rekindles  combustion  that  winter 
extinguished:  the  leafless  trees  put  forth  new  life, 
and  hibernating  insects  and  animals  "  awake,"  their 
metabolism  or  life  processes  being  increased.  When 
such  higher  animals  as  the  bear  hibernate,  all  of  the 
vital  functions  are  not  suspended,  for  these  functions 
are  performed  by  complex  organs  which  are  much 
harder  to  start  afresh  than  are  the  simple  organs  of 
one-celled  organisms. 

Seeds  of  plants  germinate  when  sufficient  heat  is 
supplied  to  start  oxidation  of  the  protoplasm.  The 
same  truth  holds  in  the  animal  kingdom,  heat  hatches 
the  egg,  by  kindling  protoplasmic  combustion.  The 
cicatricula  within  the  pigeon's  egg  "  exhibits  no  more 
signs  of  life  than  the  young  plant  within  the  pea. 
It  is  in  a  quiescent  state,  and  its  activity  must  be 
roused  by  an  external  influence.  This,  in  the  case 
of  the  egg,  is  simply  a  certain  amount  of  heat 
(which  is  ordinarily  furnished  by  the  warmth  of  the 
body  of  the  parent),  the  supply  of  nourishment  being 
yielded  by  the  matter  stored  up  within  the  egg  itself, 
in  the  yolk  and  white."  1  The  ostrich  merely  buries 
i  Huxley,  Physiography. 


The  Science  of  Life.  87 

its  eggs  in  the  sand,  the  heat  of  the  tropical  sun 
kindling  in  them  the  vital  process  of  combustion. 

"  The  ordinary  tests  of  life  are  the  power  to  assim- 
ilate food  and  air,  the  power  to  move  or  be  aroused, 
and  the  possession  of  animal  heat.  When  the  heart 
ceases  to  beat  and  breathing  stops  and  heat  leaves  the 
body,  a  person  is  said  to  be  dead.  Instances  are  on 
record  where  life  has  been  restored  by  the  application 
of  heat  to  the  body,  both  externally  and  internally, 
by  the  use  of  stimulants,  and  by  arousing  the  circula- 
tion and  the  action  of  the  lungs  by  means  of  elec- 
tricity and  by  the  practice  of  artificial  respiration." 
So  long  as  the  human  body  has  not  been  injured  in 
any  of  its  essential  organs  and  has  not  become  worn 
out  from  age,  there  is  a  probability  of  man's  being 
able  to  rekindle  the  vital  process  of  heat  production 
that  has  once  become  extinguished  by  drowning, 
freezing,  sudden  shock  to  the  heart,  and  the  like. 

Further  evidence  that  heat  is  indeed  the  very  life- 
force  is  the  following:  the  earth's  life-forms  depend 
upon  the  sun,  and  luminous  heat  is  all  that  the  sun 
gives  to  the  planet.  "  A  little  heat  ...  is  all 
that  differences  the  bald,  dazzling  white  and  deadly 
cold  poles  of  the  earth  from  the  prolific  tropical  cli- 
mates." 2  Those  regions  of  the  earth  then  that 
receive  most  heat  from  the  sun  abound  most  in  life. 
Further,  the  forms  of  life  vary  with  the  climate  or 
intensity  of  heat.  "  On  ascending  a  high  mountain, 

1  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene, 

2  Emerson,  Nature. 


88  Conscience. 

from  a  plain  in  a  hot  country,  the  traveller  meets 
with  changes  in  the  character  of  the  animal  and  vege- 
table life,  which  are  similar  to  those  changes  which 
may  be  observed  in  passing  from  low  to  high  lati- 
tudes. .  .  .  Climate  determines,  to  a  very  large 
extent,  the  character  of  the  animal  and  vegetable 
population  of  a  country."  *  Since  life-forms  become 
modified  and  vary  as  one  goes  from  a  warm  to  a  cold 
climate,  intensity  of  heat  is  seen  to  play  an  all-im- 
portant role  in  the  organic  world. 

The  second  problem  to  be  considered  in  Biology  is 
the  relation  of  the  vital  force  to  the  physical  forces 
of  Nature.  "  Contrary,  perhaps,  to  our  first  antici- 
pation, we  find  that  the  phenomena  of  Biology, 
complex  and  involved  as  they  admittedly  are,  are 
generally  speaking  capable  of  expression  in  physical 
terms,  while  the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  ani- 
mal or  plant  organism  are  found  to  agree  in  all  im- 
portant points  with  those  which  form  the  subject  of 
chemical  and  physical  investigations.  Even  mental 
or  psychological  phenomena  .  .  .  are  unde- 
niably accompanied  by  some  such  change,  and  cannot 
be  said  to  be  independent  of  the  physical  and  chem- 
ical basis  on  which  the  science  of  Biology,  as  a  whole, 
is  built.  .  .  .  No  constituent  of  living  mat- 
ter is  incapable  of  being  classified  among  chemical 
substances;  .  .  .  the  substances  which  enter 
into  the  composition  of  living  things  are  among  the 
commonest  constituents  of  the  minerals  of  the  earth's 

i  Huxley,  Physiography. 


The  Science  of  Life.  89 

crust."  *  "  The  living  body  contains  no  other  ele- 
ments and  forces  than  those  found  in  the  inanimate 
world.  There  is  no  special  '  Vital  Force.'  "  2  Phys- 
iology has  found  that  the  metabolic  processes  of  the 
living  body  have  as  their  result  and  purpose  the  con- 
stant production  of  heat.  This  generated  heat  con- 
stitutes the  vital  force  of  the  organism.  Thus  the 
life-force,,  being  heat,  is  the  same  as  the  energy  and 
physical  forces  of  the  universe. 

There  are  two  great  periods  in  the  earth's  history. 
The  earlier  period  was  devoid  of  organic  life  and 
may  be  called  the  inorganic  age;  the  later  period 
includes  the  history  of  organic  as  well  as  of  inorganic 
nature.  Since  the  life-force  of  the  organic  world 
is  the  same  as  the  energy  of  the  inorganic  world,  and 
the  materials  of  the  living  body  are  common  constit- 
uents of  the  earth's  crust,  it  would  seem  that  the 
inorganic  world  has  conditioned  and  given  rise  to 
the  organic.  Did  protoplasm,  the  life-substance  of 
the  organic  world,  arise  from  the  inorganic  world  as  a 
natural  stage  in  cosmic  evolution  ? 

"  Geology  deals  with  the  history  of  the  earth. 
.  .  .  The  beginnings  of  the  earth's  history  can 
never  be  known  from  record  or  relic.  But  the 
facts  and  comparisons  afforded  by  astronomy  save 
us  from  complete  ignorance.  What  we  may  with 
considerable  safety  infer  about  the  earliest  condition 
of  the  globe  is  suggested  by  the  Nebular  Hypoth- 

1  Gibson,  Elementary  Biology. 

2  Schenck  and  Gurber,  Human  Physiology, 


90  Conscience. 

esis."  1  When  the  cooling  surface  of  a  nebula  of 
the  primordial  substance  white  flame  evolved  into  an 
atmosphere  of  weaker  flames  or  "  the  elements,"  and 
was  cast  off  by  the  central  white  flame  to  form  a 
planet,  the  elements  of  the  atmosphere,  having  no 
longer  a  central  white  flame  beneath  them,  became 
rearranged,  the  colder,  heavier  elements  sinking 
towards  the  centre  of  the  forming  planet-globe,  the 
hotter,  lighter  elements  rising  to  the  outer  surface. 
"  The  time  of  a  gaseous,  molten,  and  glowing  earth, 
before  there  was  a  solid  crust,  has  been  called 
.  the  '  Astral '  aeon  or  era."  2  As  the  planet 
cooled  more  and  more  in  space,  the  elements 
would  enter  into  various  chemical  combinations  and 
would  change  gradually  from  the  gaseous  form  into 
liquids  and  solids.  The  first  elements  to  form  chem- 
ical combinations  and  to  liquefy  and  solidify  would 
be  those  that  were  between  the  central  matter  and  the 
outermost  atmosphere;  for  the  central  matter  would 
be  greatly  protected  from  the  cooling  process  in  space 
by  the  covering  of  substances  above  it,  while  the  heat 
gained  by  the  outer  atmosphere  from  the  sun's  radia- 
tion would  partly  counteract  the  tendency  of  this 
surface  matter  to  cool  rapidly  as  a  result  of  its  ex- 
posure in  space.  The  solid  crust  would  form  below 
the  sun-heated  atmosphere  of  the  lightest  gases  and 
above  the  molten  central  matter,  and  would  consist 
of  elements  of  medium  weight.  As  the  solid  crust 

i  Brigham,  Geology. 
2Brigham,  Geology. 


The  Science  of  Life.  91 

cooled  more  and  more  and  shrank,  it  compressed  the 
central  molten  matter,  which  would  in  its  turn  tend 
to  expand  to  its  normal  size  and  would  thus  exert 
pressure  upon  the  confining  crust,  thereby  pushing 
outward  or  "  uplifting  "  some  portions  of  the  crust 
and  breaking  through  the  softer,  more  yielding  parts 
in  the  form  of  volcanic  eruptions. 

After  elements  of  medium  weight  had  formed 
various  chemical  combinations  and  had  begun  to  form 
the  earth's  solid  crust,  there  would  come  as  a  later 
stage  of  the  cooling  of  the  earth-planet  the  period  of 
the  chemical  union  and  condensation  of  some  of  the 
light  gases  of  the  outer  atmosphere.  The  light  gases 
hydrogen  and  oxygen  united  and  condensed  into  a 
probably  universal  ocean  above  the  solid  crust. 
Parts  of  this  crust  would  be  gradually  uplifted  by 
the  pressure  of  the  central  molten  matter  which  the 
contracting  crust  compressed ;  the  once  universal  seas 
would  drain  from  these  high  portions  of  the  crust 
into  ocean-basins,  and  islands  and  continents  would 
gradually  arise  from  this  uncovering  of  uplifted 
solid  land  by  the  seas. 

Geologists  find  no  trace  of  former  organic  life  in 
the  oldest,  crystalline,  igneous  rocks  of  the  earth's 
crust ;  no  fossil  remains  bear  witness  that  "  life  "  had 
originated  on  the  planet  at  the  early  period  when 
these  rocks  were  formed.  The  ocean  came  into  being 
after  this  early  crust  of  rock.  Biology  holds  that  the 
first  organisms  lived  in  the  ocean,  since  certain  ma- 
rine organisms  are  simpler  than  any  organisms  that 


92  Conscience. 

live  on  land  or  in  the  air,  and  must  therefore,  from 
the  point  of  view  of  evolution,  be  considered  the 
most  primitive.  If  the  earliest  organisms  were  ma- 
rine, organic  life  originated  at  a  later  period  than 
the  ocean  itself.  One  of  the  constituents  of  proto- 
plasm is  water,  while  the  other  chief  constituents  are 
among  the  lightest  of  the  elements  and  were  therefore 
substances  that  remained  as  gases  in  the  outer  at- 
mosphere after  heavier  elements  had  solidified.  At 
a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  cooling  of  the 
earth  than  the  time  of  the  formation  of  a  solid  crust 
and  of  an  ocean  above  this  crust,  would  come  the 
chemical  combination  of  some  of  the  lightest  gases 
of  the  atmosphere  that  existed  above  the  seas.  The 
substances  formed  by  their  union  would  be  heavier 
than  the  former  free  gases,  since  heat  was  evolved 
in  their  formation,  and  these  chemical  compounds  of 
some  of  the  lightest  elements  would  sink  beneath  the 
atmosphere  of  free  gases  into  the  ocean.  The  ocean- 
water  would  act  chemically  upon  them,  and  there 
would  result  a  new  substance, —  a  complex  compound 
of  light  elements  and  water.  Protoplasm  or  the  life- 
substance  would  appear  in  the  natural  course  of  the 
earth's  cooling,  though  at  an  advanced  stage  in  this 
process  of  cooling,  for  complexity  of  compounds 
points  to  the  evolution  of  a  great  quantity  of  heat, 
and  the  lighter  gases  would  not  liquefy  and  solidify 
until  a  cold  period  in  the  earth's  history  was  reached. 
As  a  bar  of  iron  when  it  enters  into  chemical  union 
with  oxygen  becomes  converted  into  red  dust  or 


The  Science  of  Life.  93 

myriads  of  separate  particles,  so  the  resulting  com- 
plex compound  of  hydrogen,  oxygen,  carbon  and  nitro- 
gen with  ocean-water  was  in  the  form  of  myriads  of 
separate  particles, —  vast  swarms  of  minute  spherical 
bodies  or  one-celled  protoplasm. 

Protoplasm  is  not  generated  in  modern  times  from 
inorganic  nature,  because  the  physical  and  chemical 
conditions  of  the  earth  have  changed.  As  there  was 
an  appropriate  and  unique  period  for  the  origin  of 
the  earth's  crust  and  of  the  ocean,  so,  too,  there  was 
a  suitable  and  unique  period  for  the  origin  of  proto- 
plasm, a  complex  compound  of  certain  light  elements. 

Protoplasm  is,  of  all  the  substances  of  the  planet, 
the  life-substance,  because  it  is  the  most  complex  and 
unstable  compound  of  nature ;  the  sun-heated  oxygen 
gas  constantly  unites  with  it,  and  there  results  a 
steady  production  of  heat  or  vital  energy  from  this 
oxidation  of  the  unstable  compound.  "  The  most 
important  thing  we  know  about  the  chemical  consti- 
tution of  protoplasm  is  that  there  are  always  present 
in  it  certain  complex  albuminous  substances  which 
are  never  found  in  inorganic  bodies.  .  .  .  Pro- 
toplasm is  the  primitive  basic  life  substance,  but  it  is 
the  presence  of  these  complex  albuminous  compounds 
that  makes  protoplasm  the  life  substance."  x  Though 
"  in  animate  bodies,  there  are  doubtless  certain 
amounts  of  heat  generated  by  other  actions,  yet  these 
are  all  secondary  to  the  heat  generated  by  the  action 
of  oxygen  on  the  substances  composing  the  tissues 

i  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animo>l  Life, 


94  Conscience. 

and  the  substances  contained  in  them.  Here 
we  see  one  of  the  characteristic  distinc- 
tions between  inanimate  and  animate  bodies.  Among 
the  first,  there  are  but  few  which  ordinarily  exist  in  a 
condition  to  evolve  the  heat  caused  by  chemical  com- 
bination; and  such  as  are  in  this  condition  soon  cease 
to  be  so,  when  chemical  combination  and  genesis  of 
heat  once  begin  in  them.  Whereas  among  the  second, 
there  universally  exists  the  ability,  more  or  less 
decided,  thus  to  evolve  heat ;  and  the  evolution  of  heat, 
in  some  cases  very  slight  and  in  no  cases  very  great, 
continues  as  long  as  they  remain  animate  bodies/' 1 
The  sun-heated  oxygen  gas  breaks  down  the  cold, 
complex  compound  protoplasm,  the  natural  cooling  of 
the  earth's  substances  in  space  leads  to  a  re-formation 
of  the  complex  compound,  and  again  the  sun-heated 
oxygen  decomposes  the  compound.  This  oxidation 
of  the  complex  compound  evolves  heat  or  vital  energy. 
If  the  chasm  that  seems  to  yawn  between  the 
Inorganic  and  the  Organic  can  be  bridged,  and  if  the 
inorganic  world  can  be  regarded  as  the  natural  cause 
of  the  organic,  then  all  cosmic  history  has  continuity, 
for  the  nebular  hypothesis  gives  the  key  to  the  rela- 
tions of  the  various  heavenly  bodies,  the  key  to  inor- 
ganic history,  while  the  theory  of  evolution  gives  the 
key  to  the  relations  that  exist  between  the  various 
forms  of  organic  life.  If  the  origin  of  protoplasm 
was  a  result  of  the  natural,  physical  tendencies  of  the 
earth's  matter,  then  there  can  be  traced  an  unbroken 
i  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology, 


The  Science  of  Life.  95 

cosmic  evolution,  the  first  chapter  of  this  history  be- 
ing at  present  represented  by  the  youngest  irresolv- 
able nebula  of  the  primordial  substance  light  on  the 
outermost  bounds  of  space,  the  latest  chapter  by  man, 
the  latest-evolved  organism  on  the  oldest  and  most 
cooled  planet  in  the  centre  of  space. 

Darwin  and  Spencer  first  found  the  key  to  the 
solution  of  the  problem,  How  are  the  various  organ- 
isms on  the  earth  related  to  one  another  ?  All  forms 
of  life  on  our  planet  are  but  stages  or  chapters  of  the 
same  general  history  of  organic  development.  The 
minute,  one-celled  masses  of  protoplasm  that  orig- 
inated in  the  ocean  are  the  first  and  lowest  forms  of 
organic  life,  from  which  have  evolved  during  long 
ages  all  the  higher,  more  complex  organisms.  At 
some  remote  period  in  the  past  history  of  our  planet 
protoplasm  or  the  life-substance  was  formed,  and 
from  originally  unicellular  and  homogeneous  proto- 
plasm have  been  developed  the  many-celled  and  het- 
erogeneous forms  of  plant  and  animal. 

There  has  been  "  orderly  progress  of  the  earth's 
history.  Progressive  unfolding  has  been  the  law 
throughout."  There  have  been  "  two  great  lines  of 
evolution,  the  geographical  and  the  organic.  The 
continents  began  with  straggling  and  isolated  lands, 
and  grew  and  consolidated  by  successive  deposit  and 
uplift.  Depressions  have  intervened,  but  the  goal  has 
not  been  obscured.  Progress  has  usually  been  quiet, 
but  not  infrequently  energy  has  gathered,  until  vast 
and  almost  catastrophic  changes  followed  in  quick 


96  Conscience. 

succession.  Amid  every  diversity  of  slow  and  swift, 
uplift  and  down  wear,  all  forces  have  wrought  to- 
gether to  make  lands  of  moderate  average  altitude, 
great  areas  with  genial  climate,  rocks  covered  with 
soil,  and  soil  supporting  abundant  life.  Equally 
wonderful  in  its  majestic  ongoing  has  been  the  prog- 
ress of  life.  From  the  earliest  fossil-bearing  rocks 
to  the  last  sands  laid  on  the  beach  the  tendency  of 
life  has  on  the  whole  been  upward.  Lowly  forms 
have  given  way  to  higher,  and  clumsy  generalized 
types  like  the  early  fishes,  reptiles,  and  birds,  have 
yielded  the  stage  to  nobler  and  more  special  groups. 
The  land  forms  came  last,  but  steadily  gained  in 
numbers,  variety,  and  physical  rank,  until  signs  of 
intelligence  appeared,  and  these  received  their  crown 
in  man."  1  The  testimony  of  geology  is  that  the 
earth's  history  shows  continuity  and  that  there  has 
been  steady  progress  towards  the  present  conditions 
on  the  globe.  The  development  on  our  planet  is 
teleological,  it  has  been  in  accordance  with  a  majestic 
system  and  purpose,  and  is  not  the  result  of  chance 
or  blind  forces. 

Why  should  life  advance,  what  has  caused  the 
primitive  forms  of  life  to  change?  Spencer  points 
out  "  the  truth  which  holds  throughout  the  organic 
world,  that  life  itself  is  the  maintenance  of  a  moving 
equilibrium  between  inner  and  outer  actions  —  the 
continuous  adjustment  of  internal  relations  to  ex- 

i  Brigham,  Geology. 


The  Science  of  Life.  97 

ternal  relations ;  or  the  maintenance  of  a  correspond- 
ence between  the  forces  to  which  an  organism  is  sub- 
ject and  the  forces  which  it  evolves.  .  .  .  For 
those  progressive  modifications  upon  modifications 
which  organic  evolution  implies,  we  find  a  sufficient 
cause  in  the  modifications  after  modifications,  which 
every  environment  over  the  Earth's  surface  has  been 
undergoing,  throughout  all  geologic  and  pregeologic 
times,"  1  as  a  result  of  "  the  astronomic,  geologic  and 
meteorologic  changes  that  have  been  slowly  but  in- 
cessantly going  on,  and  have  been  increasing  in  the 
complexity  of  their  combinations,"  thus  "  perpetually 
altering  the  circumstances  of  organisms."  2  Evolu- 
tion of  higher  from  lower  life-forms  is  thus  the  result 
of  changing  environment,  of  modifications  in  the 
functions  and  structures  of  organisms  in  their  adapt- 
ing themselves  to  their  changed  surroundings,  and 
of  the  survival  of  the  best  adapted  organisms  in  the 
struggle  for  existence. 

The  chief  cause  of  the  variations  that  have  arisen 
in  organic  life-forms  is  the  variations  in  the  quantity 
of  heat  that  various  portions  of  the  earth's  surface 
have  received  from  the  sun.  "  M.  Standfuss,  of 
Zurich,  has  taken  up  the  old  experiments  of  Weiss- 
man  on  the  variations  in  butterflies  produced  by  tem- 
perature acting  on  the  chrysalis.  He  finds  that  the 
chrysalids,  according  to  the  temperature  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  have  given  birth  to  butterflies  not 

1  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 

2  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 


98  Conscience. 

of  the  kind  they  are  derived  from,  but  kinds  belong- 
ing to  countries  far  from  Zurich.  Thus,  pupse  of 
the  vanessa  urtica,  which  is  common  in  Switzerland, 
when  kept  at  a  temperature  of  4  to  6  degrees  cen- 
tigrade, produced  the  vanessa  polaris,  a  species  proper 
to  Lapland.  Others  of  the  same  sort  kept  at  37  to 
39  degrees  centigrade  produced  the  ichnusa,  found 
only  in  Sardinia  and  Corsica.  A  still  higher  tem- 
perature produced  ichnusoides,  found  sometimes  in 
temperate  regions  during  hot  summers.  Other 
chrysalids  gave  birth  to  entirely  new  species/' *  Sud- 
den and  decided  variations  in  organic  life-forms  may 
be  traced  to  the  following  astronomic  cause:  the 
abrupt  and  extreme  change  in  the  earth's  climate 
each  time  that  one  of  the  sun's  younger  planets  has 
been  born.  The  solar  atmosphere  which,  while  form- 
ing, blanketed  the  solar  nucleus  ever  more  and  more, 
has  at  several  times  been  suddenly  cast  off  to  form 
a  planet,  and  the  earth  has  then  received  radiated 
heat  directly  from  the  white,  atmosphereless  nucleus 
of  the  sun.  During  the  long  period  of  the  gradual 
formation  of  a  solar  atmosphere  of  ever-increasing 
density,  there  would  be  a  growing  diminution  in  the 
quantity  of  heat  radiated  to  the  earth;  and  an  ice- 
age  would  come  over  the  earth  when  the  heaviest  ele- 
ments evolved  in  the  solar  atmosphere  and  absorbed 
the  radiated  heat  from  the  solar  nucleus.  Then 
would  follow  the  sudden  casting  off  of  the  well-de- 

1  Baltimore   American,    Dec.    22,    1901.     From   the    London 
Globe. 


The  Science  of  Life.  99 

veloped  atmosphere,  and  to  the  ice-bound  earth  the 
sun  would  blaze  forth  again  as  a  white  star,  the  in- 
tense heat  which  it  radiated  gradually  melting  the 
glaciers  on  the  earth  and  producing  a  tropical  climate 
and  vegetation  and  animal  life  in  regions  far  removed 
from  the  equator.  There  have  been  then  several 
abrupt  changes  from  an  ice-age  on  the  earth's  surface 
to  a  tropical  climate  even  at  the  poles;  and  since 
variations  in  quantity  of  heat  cause  variations  in  or- 
ganic life-forms,  some  of  these  more  recent  innova- 
tions of  tropical  climate,  coming  within  the  age  when 
organic  life  had  already  begun  on  the  earth,  have 
been  the  direct  and  sufficient  cause  for  the  origin  of 
new  species  of  organisms.  The  more  important 
and  abrupt  variations  of  organic  life  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  this  cause.  Man  himself,  by  nature  tropical, 
may  have  arisen  as  an  abrupt  variation  from  the 
earlier  mammals  at  the  tropical  age  of  the  birth  of 
the  sun's  youngest  planet.  "  It  would  seem  that 
about  the  time  of  the  glacial  epoch,  probably  just  as 
the  great  ice-floats  began  to  melt  away,  man  suddenly 
appeared  among  the  mighty  quadrupeds  which  then 
covered  the  earth,  to  contest  the  supremacy."  * 

There  has  been  "  one  general  law  leading  to  the 
advancement  of  all  organic  beings, —  namely,  mul- 
tiply, vary,  let  the  strongest  live  and  the  weakest 
die.  .  .  .  By  the  theory  of  natural  selection 
all  living  species  have  been  connected  with  the  parent- 
species  of  each  genus,  by  differences  not  greater  than 

i  Steele,  Geology. 


100  Conscience. 

we  see  between  the  natural  and  domestic  varieties  of 
the  same  species  at  the  present  day ;  and  these  parent- 
species,  now  generally  extinct,  have  in  their  turn  been 
similarly  connected  with  more  ancient  forms ;  and  so 
on  backwards,  always  converging  to  the  common  an- 
cestor of  each  great  class."  *  In  tracing  all  animals 
and  plants  back  to  earlier  forms,  Darwin  was  led  "  to 
the  belief  that  all  animals  and  plants  are  descended 
from  some  one  prototype/'  2  The  "  classification  into 
unicellular  plants  and  unicellular  animals  is  a  very 
loose  one,  and  ...  no  doubt  many  of  the  or- 
ganisms at  present  classed  as  doubtfully  vegetal  or 
animal  in  their  relationships,  are  in  reality  transition 
stages  between  the  two  types,  or  forms  which  repre- 
sent the  generalized  type  from  which  both  animal 
and  vegetal  have  been  derived."  3  "  If  all  forms  of 
organisms  have  descended  from  some  primordial  sim- 
plest form,  it  follows  that,  since  this  primordial 
simplest  form  must  have  inhabited  some  one  medium 
out  of  the  several  media  which  organisms  now  in- 
habit, the  peopling  of  other  media  by  its  descendants, 
implies  migration  from  one  medium  to  others  —  im- 
plies adaptations  to  media  quite  unlike  the  original 
medium.  To  speak  specifically  —  water  being  the 
medium  in  which  the  lowest  living  forms  exist,  it 
is  implied  that  the  earth  and  the  air  have  been  col- 
onized from  the  water."  *  The  marine  Protozoa 

1  Darwin,  The  Origin  of  Species. 

2  Darwin,  The  Origin  of  Species. 
s  Gibson,  Elementary  Biology. 

*  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 


The  Science  of  Life.  101 

"  which  have  the  simplest  body  structure  and  per- 
form the  necessary  life  processes  in  the  simplest  way, 
are  the  oldest,  the  first  animals."  1  "  Normally  the 
whole  body  of  the  simplest  animals  is  a  single  spher- 
ical cell,  and  .  .  .  every  one  of  the  higher  an- 
imals, however  complex  it  may  become  by  growth  and 
development,  begins  life  as  a  single  spherical  cell."  2 
"  If  a  single  cell,  under  appropriate  conditions,  be- 
comes a  man  in  the  space  of  a  few  years,  there  can 
surely  be  no  difficulty  in  understanding  how,  under 
appropriate  conditions,  a  cell  may,  in  the  course  of 
untold  millions  of  years,  give  origin  to  the  human 
race."  3 

"  Man  is  descended  from  some  less  highly-organ- 
ized form.  The  grounds  upon  which  this  conclusion 
rests  will  never  be  shaken,  for  the  close  similarity  be- 
tween man  and  the  lower  animals  in  embryonic  de- 
velopment, as  well  as  in  innumerable  points  of 
structure  and  constitution,  both  of  high  and  of  the 
most  trifling  importance  —  the  rudiments  which  he 
retains,  and  the  abnormal  reversions  to  which  he  is 
occasionally  liable  —  are  facts  which  cannot  be  dis- 
puted. .  .  .  The  great  principle  of  evolution 
stands  up  clear  and  firm,  when  these  groups  of  facts 
are  considered  in  connection  with  others,  such  as 
the  mutual  affinities  of  the  members  of  the  same 
group,  their  geographical  distribution  in  past  and 


1  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 

2  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 
a  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 


102  Conscience. 

present  times,  and  their  geological  successions.  It  is 
incredible  that  all  these  facts  should  speak  falsely."  * 
"  Man  may  be  excused  for  feeling  some  pride  at 
having  risen,  though  not  through  his  own  exertions, 
to  the  very  summit  of  the  organic  scale ;  and  the  fact 
of  his  having  thus  risen,  instead  of  having  been 
aboriginally  placed  there,  may  give  him  hopes  for  a 
still  higher  destiny  in  the  distant  future."  2 


1  Darwin,  The  Descent  of  Man. 

2  Darwin,  The  Descent  of  Man. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CONSCIOUSNESS,   OR  THE  SCIENCE  OF  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Psychology  has  been  defined  "  as  the  '  description 
and  explanation  of  states  of  consciousness  as  such/ 
By  states  of  consciousness  are  meant  such  things  as 
sensations,  desires,  emotions,  cognitions,  reasonings, 
decisions,  volitions,  and  the  like.  Their  '  explana- 
tion '  must  of  course  include  the  study  of  their  causes, 
conditions,  and  immediate  consequences,  so  far  as 
these  can  be  ascertained."  *  "  The  existence  and  ac- 
tivity of  the  human  Nervous  System  is  the  general 
physical  condition  of  all  those  mental  states  which  can 
become  data  for  psychological  science."  2  "  The  bald 
fact  is  that  when  the  brain  acts,  a  thought  occurs."  3 
Likewise,  when  the  brain  acts,  heat  appears.  Phi- 
losophy seeks  the  significance  of  this  similar  relation 
of  consciousness  and  of  heat  to  the  brain.  Does  the 
primordial  substance  heat,  the  energy  of  the  physical 
.universe  and  the  life  force  of  the  organic  world,  pos- 
sess the  property  of  consciousness,  of  rationality  ? 

The  consciousness  of  organisms  on  the  earth  con- 
sists in  a  personal,  inward  and  limited  feeling  of  the 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  Ladd,  Psychology. 

3  James,  Principles  of  Psychology. 

103 


104  Conscience. 

world.  Consciousness  defies  description,  but  every 
sentient  being  knows  from  his  own  experience  the 
nature  of  consciousness,  which  is  considered  by  all 
beings  as  a  reality,  whether  the  outer  world  of  matter 
is  considered  real  or  not.  But  this  inner  conscious- 
ness depends  upon  the  external,  material  world  for 
its  own  existence,  and  has  outer  Nature  as  its  object 
of  contemplation.  "  To  Be  is  the  unsolved,  unsolv- 
able  wonder.  To  Be,  in  its  two  connections  of  in- 
ward and  outward,  the  mind  and  nature.  The 
wonder  subsists,  and  age,  though  of  eternity,  could 
not  approach  a  solution.  But  the  suggestion  is 
always  returning,  that  hidden  source  publishing  at 
once  our  being  and  that  it  is  the  source  of  outward 
nature.  Who  are  we  and  what  is  Nature  have  one 
answer  in  the  life  that  rushes  into  us."  1  There  is 
one  life  force  of  the  universe,  the  common  source  of 
Matter  and  Spirit.  Consciousness  did  not  arise  sud- 
denly in  the  universe,  only  at  the  stage  when  a  planet 
evolved  organic  life  on  its  surface;  it  has  existed 
from  the  first.  The  primordial  substance  light, 
whence  have  evolved  the  hosts  of  heavenly  bodies  that 
constitute  the  physical  world  or  outer  Nature,,  is  con- 
scious, rational  energy  as  well. 

Most  of  the  evidence  that  the  heat  which  is  gener- 
ated during  brain-activity,  is  closely  connected  with 
consciousness,  must  be  obtained  from  a  consideration 
of  the  facts  collected  by  "  physiological  psychology," 
"  the  science  of  the  phenomena  of  human  conscious- 

J  Emerson,  Natural  JJistory  of  the  Intellect, 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        105 

ness  in  their  relations  to  the  structure  and  functions 
of  the  nervous  system."  1  "  It  is  now  universally  ad- 
mitted that  the  brain  is  the  grand  nervous  centre  of 
thought  and  feeling  —  the  material  instrument  of  the 
mind,  and  that  all  mental  actions  are  accompanied 
and  conditioned  by  physiological  actions."  2 

If  heat  were  the  conscious  force  in  the  brain,  it 
would  be  dependent  for  its  existence  upon  and  would 
vary  in  intensity  as  the  physiological  combustion  of 
the  brain  substance.  Now  it  is  a  fact  that  conscious- 
ness depends  for  its  existence  upon  brain  activity,  and 
varies  in  intensity  in  proportion  as  the  brain  activity 
varies.  "  Psychical  processes  are  always  accom- 
panied by  and  dependent  upon  physiological  pro- 
cesses in  the  central  nervous  system."  3  "  The  phe- 
nomena of  consciousness  are  exalted  or  depressed  by 
purely  physical  conditions."  4 

The  nervous  system  is  of  course  suited  by  its  chem- 
ical composition  and  its  structure  to  the  needs  of  the 
mind,  which  uses  it  and  which  finds  support  from  it. 
The  theory  that  heat  is  the  conscious  force  in  the 
nervous  system  will  be  strengthened,  if  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  nervous  substance  is  found  to  be 
especially  well  suited  to  the  task  of  generating  heat, 
and  if  the  nervous  structure  is  found  to  be  peculiarly 
fitted  to  conduct  currents  of  this  heat-substance  which 
is  motor  in  its  very  nature. 

iLadd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
2  Huxley  and  Youmans,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 
s  Schenck  and  Gtirber,  Human  Physiology. 
*  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain. 


106  Conscience. 

"  In  the  nervous  substance  itself,  ...  we 
find  the  same  chemical  elements  which  exist  every- 
where in  nature;  these  are,  especially,  the  four  ele- 
ments, oxygen,  hydrogen,  nitrogen,  and  carbon.  We 
have  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  essential  laws  of 
the  combination  and  dissolution  of  these  elements 
are  different  in  this  substance  from  those  known  to 
have  control  elsewhere."  1  When,  then,  oxygen  gas 
is  brought  by  the  blood  to  the  brain,  it  unites  chem- 
ically with  the  complex  compounds  that  compose  the 
nervous  substance,  the  process  generating  heat.  In 
the  lowest  organisms  the  nervous  substance  and  the 
general  body  substance  are  identical,  but  in  the  highly 
specialized  organ  the  human  nervous  system,  the 
nervous  substance  has  a  higher  fuel-value  than  has 
the  general  body  substance,  since  the  highly  com- 
bustible elements  phosphorus  and  sulphur  are  con- 
spicuous constituents.  "  The  most  significant  con- 
stituents of  the  substance  of  the  nerve-centres,  from 
the  point  of  view  both  of  chemistry  and  of  physiolog- 
ical psychology,  are  certain  complex  phosphorlzed 
fats.  These  bodies  are  highly  characteristic  of  the 
centres  of  the  nervous  system."  2  Besides  these  phos- 
phorized  fuels,  there  are  present  slower  fuels  which 
are  similar  in  nature  to  those  found  in  other  parts  of 
the  body.  "  Of  the  solids  composing  the  nervous  sub- 
stance, more  than  one-half  in  the  gray  and  about  one- 
quarter  in  the  white  consist  of  certain  proteid  or 

iLadd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
2Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.         107 

albuminous  bodies.  Such  bodies  are  the  only  ones 
never  absent  from  the  active  living  cells;  they  exist 
in  all  vegetable  and  animal  organisms.  Very  little 
is  known  of  the  peculiar  chemical  constitution  which 
these  proteid  bodies  take  in  the  nerve-centres.  They 
may  be  said  to  represent  there  the  presence  of  that 
general  matter  of  life  which  is  the  physical  sub- 
stratum of  all  vital  phenomena.  Three  other  non- 
phosphorized  bodies  are  found  in  the  nervous  tis- 
sues." 1  "  Like  every  other  natural  material  struc- 
ture, the  nervous  system  is  obviously  adapted  to  a 
peculiar  kind  of  work.  Chemically  considered,  it  has 
two  very  important  characteristics :  its  constitution  is 
extremely  complex,  and  the  compounds  that  enter 
into  it  are  highly  unstable."  2 

Since  the  blood  carries  oxygen  gas  and  fresh  fuel 
to  the  tissues  which  it  bathes,  the  rate  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood  in  the  brain  determines  how  much 
oxygen  is  supplied  for  the  combustion  process  and 
how  much  fuel  replenishes  that  already  consumed, 
and  consequently  how  much  heat  is  generated.  We 
find  that  consciousness  likewise  is  dependent  upon  the 
circulation  of  the  blood,  and  varies  in  intensity  as  the 
rate  of  circulation  varies.  "  That  the  unceasing 
change  of  matter  which  oxygen  and  other  agents  pro- 
duce throughout  the  system,  is  accompanied  by  a 
genesis  of  nerve-force,  is  shown  by  various  facts; — 
by  the  fact  that  nerve-force  is  no  longer  generated,  if 

1  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

2  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 


108  Conscience. 

oxygen  be  withheld,  or  the  blood  prevented  from  cir- 
culating; by  the  fact  that  when  the  chemical  trans- 
formation is  diminished,  as  during  sleep  with  its  slow 
respiration  and  circulation,  there  is  a  diminution  in 
the  quantity  of  nerve-force;  in  the  fact  that  an  ex- 
cessive expenditure  of  nerve-force  involves  excessive 
respiration  and  circulation,  and  excessive  waste  of 
tissue."  *  "  Among  the  known  conditions  of  all  con- 
scious mental  activity  is  the  character  and  amount  of 
the  brain's  blood  supply.  To  stop  this  supply  results 
in  putting  an  end  for  the  time  to  all  consciousness ; 
to  impede  or  corrupt  it  disturbs  and  depresses  con- 
sciousness ;  to  alter  its  character  changes  the  character 
of  consciousness."  2  "  That  peculiar  kind  of  (  work  ' 
of  the  nervous  substance  of  the  higher 
cerebral  centres  is  an  indispensable  condition,  and  in 
some  way  at  least  a  rough  measure  of  the  so-called 
activity  or  intensity  of  consciousness."  3  "  If  the 
cerebral  circulation  is  lowered,  mental  activity  is 
diminished;  if  accelerated,  the  mind's  action  is  ex- 
alted." *  Mosso  deduced  from  experiments  the  con- 
clusion "that  there  was  an  extra  amount  of  blood 
sent  to  the  brain  in  the  case  of  cerebral  excitement 
of  any  kind,  and  that  the  brain  was  anaemic  during 
sleep."  5  As  the  light  of  a  lamp  depends  for  its  in- 
tensity upon  the  amount  of  oil  that  is  being  oxidized, 

1  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 

2  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

3  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

*  Huxley  and  Youmans,  Physiology  and  Hygiene, 
York  Sun,  Jan,  11,  1902, 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.         109 

so  the  light  of  consciousness  in  the  brain  depends 
upon  the  quantity  of  oxygen  and  fuel  the  circulating 
blood  supplies,  and  this  light  of  consciousness  becomes 
extinguished  and  "  sleep  "  ensues  when  the  brain  be- 
comes ansemic. 

The  oxidation  in  the  brain  is  more  rapid  than  in 
any  other  organ  of  the  body,  consequently  heat  in- 
tense enough  to  be  luminous  and  to  constitute  in- 
tense or  "  higher  "  consciousness  is  here  generated, 
while  weak,  non-luminous,  sub-conscious  heat  is  gen- 
erated elsewhere.  "  The  brain  is  ...  not 
only,  like  all  other  parts  of  the  body,  subject  to 
the  double  metamorphosis  of  waste  and  repair,  but 
the  transformations  take  place  in  this  organ  with 
more  rapidity  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  system. 
Upon  these  changes  the  mental  operations  are  vitally 
dependent,  and  if  in  any  way  they  are  interfered 
with,  there  is  disturbance  of  the  intellectual  proc- 
esses." "  The  free  circulation  of  arterial  blood, 
with  its  supply  of  oxygen,  is  necessary  to  the  central 
organs  for  the  proper  fulfillment  of  their  functions. 
It  has  been  calculated  that,  while  the  weight  of  the 
entire  encephalon  is  about  one  forty-fifth  of  the  body, 
the  supply  of  blood  used  up  in  the  encephalon  is 
about  one-eighth  or  one-ninth  of  that  required  by  the 
whole  body."  2  "  The  brain,  and  particularly  the 
gray  matter,  receives  an  enormous  volume  of  blood. 
In  no  other  part  of  the  body  is  the  nutritive  function 

1  Huxley  and  Youmans,  Physiology  and  Hygiene, 

2  kadd,  Physiological  Psychology, 


110  Conscience. 

so  active  or  so  rapid."  1  "  The  abundance  of  blood 
in  the  brain  and  the  fact  that  stoppage  of  blood  sup- 
ply paralyzes  the  nerve  cells  in  a  few  minutes,  indi- 
cate that  the  metabolism  is  very  energetic."  2 

"  An  increase  in  the  gross  waste  of  tissue  can  be 
shown  to  be  the  accompaniment  and  physical  cor- 
relate of  mental  work.  This  waste  is  indicative  of 
brain-work.  .  .  .  The  quantity  of  sulphates 
and  phosphates  excreted,  in  comparison  with  the  quan- 
tity carefully  estimated  as  entering  into  the  diet,  is 
noticeably  increased  by  increasing  the  mental  work. 
To  yield  these  sulphates  and  phosphates,  the  highly 
complex  compounds  of  the  phosphorized  constituents 
of  the  brain  have  been  disorganized."  3 

The  following  is  further  proof  that  heat  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  consciousness :  "  It  has  been 
known  for  some  time  that  a  rise  and  fall  of  tempera- 
ture in  the  substance  of  the  brain  is  connected  with 
changes  of  the  psychical  states.  .  .  .  All  the 
sensory  impressions  which  arrive  at  the  hemispheres 
produce  a  rise  of  temperature  by  their  very  transmis- 
sion. But,  furthermore,  psychical  activity,  inde- 
pendently of  the  sensory  impressions,  develops  a 
certain  degree  of  heat  in  addition  to  that  developed 
by  the  impressions  themselves.  .  .  .  The  con- 
clusion seems  warranted  that  these  changes  of  cere- 
bral temperature  are  not  due  simply  to  changes  in 


1  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System. 

2  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 
s  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        Ill 

the  arterial  circulation.  They  appear  independent  of 
the  rhythm  of  respiration,  but  dependent  on  the 
rhythm  of  metabolic  activity/'  "  Brain-activity 
seems  accompanied  by  a  local  disengagement  of 
heat."  2  Lombard  found  by  experiment  that  "  any 
intellectual  effort  .  .  .  caused  a  general  rise 
of  temperature,  which  rarely  exceeded  a  degree  Fah- 
renheit. .  .  .  Schiff  concluded  from  .  .  . 
experiments  that  sensorial  activity  heats  the  brain- 
tissue.  .  .  .  Dr.  Amidon  .  .  .  found 
that  when  different  muscles  of  the  body  were  made 
to  contract  vigorously  for  ten  minutes  or  more,  dif- 
ferent regions  of  the  scalp  rose  in  temperature,  that 
the  regions  were  well  focalized,  and  that  the  rise  of 
temperature  was  often  considerably  over  a  Fahren- 
heit degree.  To  a  large  extent  these  regions  cor- 
respond to  the  centres  for  the  same  movements 
assigned  by  Ferrier  and  others  on  other  grounds ;  only 
they  cover  more  of  the  skull."  3  It  is  in  short  "  a 
proved  fact  that  all  forms  of  mental  exercise  produce 
a  rise  of  cerebral  temperature."  4 

A  study  of  the  structure  of  the  elements  of  the 
nervous  system  further  confirms  the  view  that  the 
conscious  force  in  the  brain  is  heat.  "  The  undoubt- 
edly nervous  elements  of  the  substance  of  the  nervous 
system  are  of  two  kinds,  as  respects  their  structural 


1  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 

3  James,  Psychology. 

*  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  'Nervous  System, 


112  Conscience. 

form:  these  are  nerve-fibres  and  nerve-cells."  The 
fibres  are  "  the  outgrowth  of  the  cell,  .  .  .  pro- 
longations of  the  cell-body.  ...  In  the  pe- 
ripheral system  the  fibres  stretch  from  their  point  of 
origin  in  the  cord  to  the  most  distant  portions  of  the 
limbs.  ...  In  each  instance  .  .  .  the 
fibre  reaching  for  this  distance  is  the  continuous  out- 
growth from  a  single  cell-body."  2  "  Taken  together 
the  cell  and  its  fibre  may  be  considered  an  anatomical 
unit."  3  "  The  elements  of  the  nervous  system  are 
fitted  to  form  ( tracts/  along  which  the  nerve-com- 
motion may  run.  Every  nerve-fibre  constitutes  one 
such  tract, —  capable,  it  would  seem,  of  subdividing 
at  either  end  into  a  considerable  number  of  fibrils  or 
subordinate  tracts.  The  nerve-cells,  too,  seem  fitted 
to  serve  as  tracts  for  the  propagation,  and  perhaps 
also  as  centres  for  the  distribution  and  modification 
('  shunting  places  '  they  have  sometimes  been  called) 
of  the  same  nerve-commotion.  The  processes  which 
they  give  off  —  whether  directly  or  only  indirectly, 
or  both,  .  .  .  serve  to  bring  them  into  connec- 
tion with  other  nerve-elements  of  the  same  kind ;  and 
through  the  peripheral  nerves,  with  the  muscles  and 
special  organs  of  sense.  Both  Tcinds  of  nerve-ele- 
ments are  certainly  adapted  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
'  conductivity '  in  an  exceedingly  complex  system  of 


1  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

2  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain. 

s  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        113 

interrelated  organs."  1  "  The  mental  mechanism 
consists  essentially  of  millions  of  cells  and  fibres,  the 
former  of  which  are  the  generators  and  the  latter  the 
transmitters  of  force."  2 

The  infant  does  not  begin  life  possessed  of  an 
already  active  mind  and  "  innate  ideas  " ;  conscious- 
ness is  awakened  in  the  brain  only  when  stimuli  cause 
nerve  impulses  to  flow  to  the  brain-cells.  If  nerve 
impulses  are  precursors  of  higher  consciousness,  what 
is  their  nature  ?  "  Under  natural  conditions 
nervous  impulses  do  not  arise  in  nerve 
fibres,  but  in  nerve  cells  or  in  special  structures  con- 
nected with  the  ends  of  nerves,  as  the  sense  organs. 
Experiments  have  shown  that  a  nerve  fibre  merely 
conducts  the  nervous  impulse,  but  has  no  share  in  its 
formation  or  modification."  3  "  Whenever  a  nervous 
impulse  is  started  in  a  nerve  an  electrical  change,  { 
known  as  the  '  negative  variation  '  or  '  action  current,' 
is  started  at  the  same  time,  from  the  same  point,  and 
travels  along  the  nerve  at  the  same  rate.  ...  It 
is  an  outward  sign  and  the  only  known  one  of  the  in- 
ternal change." 4  "  Aside  from  these  electrical 
changes,  the  nerve  impulse  can  only  be  detected  by  the 
effects  which  it  has  upon  the  end-organ  (muscular 
contraction  in  the  motor  nerves,  sensation  in  the 
sensory  nerves)."  6 


1  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

2  Huxley  and  Youmans,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 
s  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 

4  Martin,   The  Human  Body. 

5  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 


114  Conscience. 

"In  many  points  the  phenomena  presented  by 
nerve  fibres  as  transmitters  of  disturbances  are  like 
the  phenomena  of  wires  as  transmitters  of  electricity, 
and  when  the  phenomena  of  current  electricity  were 
first  observed  there  was  a  great  tendency,  explaining 
one  unknown  by  another,  to  consider  nervous  im- 
pulses merely  as  electrical  currents.  The  increase  of 
our  knowledge  concerning  both  nerves  and  electrical 
currents,  however,  has  made  such  an  hypothesis  al- 
most, if  not  quite,  untenable.  In  the  first  place,  nerve 
fibres  are  extremely  bad  conductors  of  electricity,  so 
bad  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  them  used  in  the 
Body  for  that  purpose;  and  in  the  second  place, 
merely  physical  continuity  of  a  nerve  fibre,  such  as 
would  not  interfere  with  the  passage  of  an  electric 
current,  will  not  suffice  for  the  transmission  of  a 
nervous  impulse.  For  instance,  if  a  damp  string  be 
tied  around  a  nerve,  or  if  it  be  cut  and  its  two  moist 
ends  placed  in  contact,  no  nervous  impulse  will  be 
transmitted  across  the  constricted  or  divided  point, 
although  an  electrical  current  would  pass  readily." 1 
To  the  second  objection  the  answer  may  be  given  that 
a  feeble  current  cannot  do  as  much  as  a  stronger  cur- 
rent; the  average  nerve  impulse  is  a  faint  current 
which  would  be  absorbed  by  the  water  in  the  string 
tied  around  its  nerve-channel,  or  would  be  dispersed 
in  the  small  but  highly-resisting  air-space  that  would 
intervene  between  the  parts  of  a  cut  and  thus  discon- 
tinuous nerve. 

i  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        115 

The  chief  argument  brought  forward  to  prove  that 
the  nerve  impulse  cannot  be  an  electrical  current  is 
that  "  nerve  fibres  are  extremely  bad  conductors  of 
electricity,  so  bad  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppose 
them  used  in  the  Body  for  that  purpose."  The  car- 
bon fibre  used  in  the  ordinary  electric  light  bulb  is 
likewise  a  very  poor  conductor  of  electricity,  but  in 
that  very  property  lies  its  value.  If  a  coarse  copper 
wire  that  is  a  good  conductor  were  substituted  for  the 
carbon  filament,  there  would  be  no  impeding  and  con- 
centrating of  the  electric  current  by  a  highly-resisting 
path,  and  consequently  no  light.  If,  as  we  are  at- 
tempting to  prove,  higher  consciousness  is  a  property 
of  intense  or  luminous  heat,  the  fine,  highly-resisting 
nerve  threads  serve  in  the  nervous  system  the  same 
purpose  that  fine  carbon  threads  serve  in  the  electric 
light  bulb :  by  virtue  of  being  "  extremely  bad  con- 
ductors of  electricity,"  they  concentrate  and  intensify 
into  light  what  were  formerly  faint  currents  of  non- 
luminous  heat.  "  The  resistance  of  living  nerves  to 
the  electrical  current  is  probably  about  the  same  as 
that  of  the  muscles ;  it  has  been  given  at  50,000,000 
times  that  of  copper  wire."  * 

The  resistance  of  a  wire  to  an  electric  current  de- 
pends not  only  upon  the  substance  of  which  the  wire 
is  made,  but  also  upon  the  fineness  of  the  wire,  re- 
sistance increasing  as  the  area  of  the  cross  section 
diminishes.  Not  only  is  the  living  nerve  mads  of  a 
substance  that  is  a  poor  conductor,  but  it  is  of  small 

i  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 


116  Conscience. 

diameter,  being  merely  a  slender  thread,  and  this 
thread  becomes  finer  as  the  nervous  system  becomes 
higher.  "  As  compared  with  many  animals,  the 
cranial  nerves  in  man  are  small,  and  .  .  .  this 
small  size  is  not  only  relative,  but  absolute."  *  "  In 
the  white  matter  of  the  spinal  cord  the  medullated 
fibres  vary  in  size  from  isW  to  s^Vs  of  an  inch ;  but 
near  the  gray  matter  of  the  cord,  they  are  sometimes 
not  more  than  rs1^  of  an  inch.  The  fibres  are  much 
finer  in  the  gray  matter  of  the  cord  and  brain  (  ToVs 
to  i^tnr  of  an  inch  in  diameter)  ;  they  are  finest  of 
all  in  the  superficial  layers  of  the  brain,  or  in  the 
nerves  of  special  sense.  In  some  instances  the  axis- 
cylinder  may  be  not  more  than  nn&rnr  of  an  inch  in  di- 
ameter." 2  Thus  where  sensation  is  keenest,  the  nerve- 
fibres  are  found  to  be  finest  and  to  offer  the  greatest 
resistance.  Impeding  and  concentrating  the  nerve 
current  has  then  the  effect  of  intensifying  the 
conscious  force.  "  In  the  spinal  cord  and  in  the 
brain  the  speed  of  the  nervous  impulses  is,  in  general, 
much  slower  than  in  the  peripheral  nerves."  3  "  All 
consciousness  seems  to  depend  on  a  certain  slowness 
of  the  process  in  the  cortical  cells.  The  rapider  cur- 
rents are,  the  less  feeling  they  seem  to  awaken."  4 
Instead  of  the  electric  current  or  nerve  impulse  flash- 
ing through  the  nervous  system  over  a  well-conduct- 
ing path  with  a  velocity  somewhat  comparable  to  the 

i  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain. 
2Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
s  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
*  James,  Principles  of  Psychology. 


,The  Science  of  Consciousness.        117 

velocity  of  light  or  electricity  moving  in  empty  space, 
it  has  a  highly-resisting  path  to  pursue,  and  moves 
slowly  as  a  concentrated  current  which  has  the  neces- 
sary strength  and  time  to  ignite  the  fuel  of  the  nerve- 
cells  and  start  the  heat  production  process. 

The  view  that  the  nerve  current  is  a  flowing  sub- 
stance and  not  merely  a  molecular  change  is  confirmed 
by  the  fact  that  there  are  anatomical  gaps  between 
the  various  cells  of  the  nervous  system.  "  It  was  for- 
merly supposed  that  the  nerve  cells  were  connected 
with  each  other  by  means  of  their  branches  and  axis- 
cylinders,  but  it  has  recently  been  shown  that  each 
nerve  cell  with  its  branches  and  axis-cylinder  forms 
an  anatomical  unit."  *  "  After  nerve  fibres  leave  a 
cell,  they  have  never  been  seen,  even  with  the  strong- 
est miscroscope,  to  enter  another  cell.  There  is  some 
mysterious  physiological,  but  no  anatomical,  connec- 
tion." 2  "  The  discovery  that  nerve  cells  are  not  con- 
tinuous with  each  other  by  means  of  their  fibres,  but 
that  each  cell  and  its  branches,  including  the  axis- 
cylinder,  forms  a  distinct  unit,  complicates  the  prob- 
lem of  the  real  nature  of  the  nervous  impulse."  s 
These  gaps  in  the  nervous  structure  must  be  of  real 
service,  otherwise  they  would  not  be  present.  Their 
need  cannot  be  explained  on  the  molecular  theory  of 
heat  and  of  the  nerve  impulse;  their  presence  is  in 
fact  a  serious  blow  to  the  molecular  theory  of  the 
nerve  impulse.  "  There  is  evidence  that,  when  a 

1  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 

2  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System. 

3  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course. 


118  Conscience. 

nerve  is  irritated,  a  something,  probably  a  change  in 
the  arrangement  of  its  molecules,  is  propagated  along 
the  nerve  fibres."  1  It  would  be  difficult  to  explain 
how  the  nerve  impulse,  if  a  molecular  disturbance,  is 
transmitted  across  the  anatomical  gaps,  and  still 
harder  to  explain  the  purpose  of  these  gaps,  for  con- 
tinuity of  structure  would  be  more  advantageous  for 
the  transmission  of  a  molecular  impulse  than  occa- 
sional breaks  in  the  structure.  If  on  the  other  hand 
the  nerve  impulse  is  a  current  of  the  substance  heat, 
it  is  well  known  that  electric  currents  of  sufficient 
strength  overleap  gaps  in  their  paths.  In  order  to 
surmount  the  gap,  the  feeble  electrical  impulse  would 
have  to  become  intensified  by  being  concentrated  in 
front  of  the  gap.  Then  the  gaps  in  the  nervous  struc- 
ture may  serve  the  all-important  function  of  intensi- 
fying the  electrical  impulse  into  a  spark  of  fire  which 
leaps  across  the  anatomical  gap  into  the  phosphorized 
fats  and  other  fuel  of  the  nerve  cell  and  ignites  com- 
bustion in  the  cell,  thus  "  stimulating  "  the  brain  cell. 
If  there  were  no  gaps,  feeble  impulses  could  not  ignite 
the  cell-fuel.  Just  as  man  has  learned  the  value  of 
using  highly-resisting  carbon  for  conducting  elec- 
tricity in  the  arc-lamp,  and  the  further  need  of  an 
air  space  or  gap  between  parts  of  the  conducting 
carbon,  in  order  to  obtain  the  concentration  of  elec- 
tricity into  light;  so  Nature  uses  highly-resisting 
carbon  threads  to  conduct  the  electrical  impulse  in 

i  Huxley  and  Youmans,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        119 

the  nervous  system,  and  places  gaps  in  this  conduct- 
ing path  of  cells  and  fibres,  in  order  to  secure  the 
concentration  of  the  heat  current  into  a  spark  of 
light  that  can  kindle  combustion  in  nerve  cells. 

In  the  fishes  known  as  the  Torpedo  and  the  Gym- 
notus,  "  we  have  a  genesis  of  electricity  that  is  not  in- 
cidental on  the  performance  of  their  different  func- 
tions by  the  different  organs ;  but  one  which  is  itseli 
a  function,  having  an  organ  appropriate  to  it.  The 
character  of  this  organ  in  both  these  fishes,  and  its 
largely-developed  connections  with  the  nervous  cen- 
tres, have  raised  the  suspicion,  which  various  experi- 
ments have  thus  far  justified,  that  in  it  there  takes 
place  a  transformation  of  what  we  call  nerve-force 
into  the  force  known  as  electricity;  this  conclusion 
being  more  especially  supported  by  the  fact  that  sub- 
stances such  as  morphia  and  strychnia,  which  are 
known  to  be  powerful  nervous  stimulants,  greatly  in- 
crease the  violence  and  rapidity  of  the  electrical  dis- 
charges." * 

If  the  nerve  impulse  be  an  electric  current,  the 
medullary  sheaths  which  are  present  on  some  of  the 
nerve  fibres  are  used  as  insulators.  The  need  for 
insulation  of  nerve  fibres  would  arise  as  the  nervous 
system  became  higher  and  the  electric  impulses  had 
finer  nerve  threads  to  flow  through,  for  the  currents, 
would  be  more  concentrated  and  intense.  "  Each 
fibre  is  distinct  and  may  act  independently  of  every 
other.  Most  fibres  are,  in  fact,  insulated  by  connec- 

i  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 


120  Conscience. 

tive  tissue  and  fatty  matter,  as  are  the  wires  of  a 
cable  by  rubber."  x  The  medullated  fibres  are  known 
as  the  white  matter  of  the  nervous  system,  owing  to 
their  white  sheaths.  "  At  the  lower  end  of  the  cord 
scarcely  any  white  matter  is  found;  the  amount  of 
such  matter  increases  from  below  upwards,  and  is 
largest  in  the  cervical  region."  2  Of  the  two  kinds 
of  nerve  fibres,  the  medullated  and  the  non-medul- 
lated,  "  the  former  belong  particularly  to  the  brain 
and  spinal  cord;  they  are  found  only  in  vertebrate 
animals.  The  latter  belong  particularly  to  the  sym- 
pathetic system."  3  In  short,  the  insulation  of  fibres 
increases  as  the  nervous  system  advances,  appearing 
only  in  the  nervous  systems  of  vertebrates,  and  in- 
creasing in  the  latest-evolved  and  highest  portions  of 
their  systems. 

Nerve  fibres  are  merely  the  conducting  paths  of 
electrical  impulses.  "  No  processes  of  metabolism 
have  ever  been  demonstrated  in  the  stimulated  or 
unstimulated  nerve.  The  metabolism  is,  at  any  rate, 
even  in  stimulated  nerves,  very  slight,  for  nerves  do 
not  appear  susceptible  to  fatigue,  and  the  supply  of 
blood  to  them  is  small."  4  On  the  other  hand,  "  the 
cell  of  the  nervous  tissue  ...  is  the  essential, 
living  part.  In  it  go  on  the  mysterious  .  .  . 
changes  which  are  presented  to  us  as  nervous  action. 
To  it  the  surrounding  structures  are  entirely  sub- 

1  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 
2Ladd,   Physiological   Psychology. 
8  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
*8chenck  and  Gurber,  Human  Physiology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        121 

servient.  ...  It  is  upheld  by  the  connective 
tissue;  it  is  nourished  by  the  capillaries  and  lym- 
phatics ;  it  is  drained  by  the  venules."  *  "  The  irri- 
table cell  is  often  pictured  as  a  powder  magazine  to 
which  a  small  spark,,  the  stimulus,  may  be  applied, 
with  the  result  of  causing  an  explosion  that  liberates 
a  quantity  of  force  many  times  .greater  than  that  rep- 
resented by  the  spark.  ...  In  the  nerve  cell 
the  larger  stimulus  is  followed  by  the  larger  explo- 
sion." 2  "  More  wonderful  still,  the  nervous  sub- 
stance may  be  said  to  make  its  own  powder  as  fast 
(within  certain  limits)  as  it  is  burned.  It  is  itself 
the  seat  of  a  chemical  synthesis,  which  results  in  con- 
structing the  peculiar  bodies "  which  compose  it 
"  from  the  material  furnished  by  the  blood.  Such 
bodies  have  a  high  value  as  combustibles/' 3  The 
nerve  impulse,  being  an  electric  current  which  flows 
through  a  highly-resisting  fibre  and  which  leaps  as  a 
concentrated  spark  across  anatomical  gaps,  ignites 
the  highly  inflammable  substance  of  the  cell,  and  this 
cell  activity  generates  luminous  heat  or  conscious 
power. 

Darwin  considered  it  "  rather  difficult  to  form  a 
judgment  how  the  long  hair  on  our  heads  became  de- 
veloped." "  Some  ground,  perhaps,  exists  for  the 
conclusion  that  the  greater  or  less  development  of 
hairs  is  in  part  immediately  due  to  increase  or  de- 

1  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

2  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain, 

3  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 
*  Darwin,  The  Descent  of  Man. 


122  Conscience. 

crease  of  demand  on  their  passive  function,  as  non- 
conductors of  heat."  x  The  long  hair  may  well  have 
been  developed  over  the  human  brain  to  serve  as  an  in- 
sulating material  which  would  prevent  too  rapid  a 
loss  of  heat  by  the  chief  bodily  organ  designed  for 
heat-production.  Nature  herself  protects  man's  most 
vital  organ,  while  she  leaves  the  clothing  of  the  rest 
of  his  body  to  his  own  intelligence.  By  his  use  of 
artificial  clothing  of  either  conducting  or  non-conduct- 
ing materials,  man  can  regulate  the  radiation  of  his 
body-heat  according  to  the  demands  of  the  various, 
climates  of  the  globe. 

"  All  animals  of  whatever  degree  of  organization 
show  in  life  the  quality  of  irritability  or  response  to 
external  stimulus.  Contact  with  external  things  pro- 
duces some  effect  on  each  of  them,  and  this  effect  is 
something  more  than  the  mere  mechanical  effect  on 
the  matter  of  which  the  animal  is  composed.  In  the 
one-celled  animals  the  functions  of  response  to  ex- 
ternal stimulus  are  not  localized.  They  are  the  prop- 
erty of  any  part  of  the  protoplasm  of  the  body."  2 
"  In  the  biological  sense  the  mind  is  the  collective 
name  for  the  functions  of  the  sensorium  in  men  and 
animals.  It  is  the  sum  total  of  all  psychic  changes, 
actions,  and  reactions.  Under  the  head  of  psychic 
functions  are  included  all  operations  of  the  nervous 
system  as  well  as  all  functions  of  like  nature  which 
may  exist  in  organisms  without  specialized  neirre 

1  Spencer,    Principles   of   Biology. 

2  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.         123 

fibres  or  nerve  cells.  As  thus  defined,  mind  would 
include  all  phenomena  of  irritability,  and  even  plants 
have  the  rudiments  of  it.  The  operations  of  the  mind 
in  this  sense  need  not  be  conscious.  With  the  lower 
animals  almost  all  of  them  are  automatic  and  uncon- 
scious. With  man  most  of  them  must  be  so.  All 
functions  of  the  sensorium,  irritability,  reflex  action, 
instinct,  reason,  volition,  are  alike  in  essential  nature 
though  differing  greatly  in  their  degree  of  specializa- 
tion. In  another  sense  the  term  mind  is  applied  only 
to  conscious  reasoning  or  conscious  volition.  In  this 
sense  it  is  mainly  an  attribute  of  man,  the  lower  ani- 
mals showing  it  in  but  slight  degree."  *  "  The  chem- 
ical constituents  and  minute  structure  of  the  elements 
which  compose  all  nervous  substance  are  largely  the 
same.  .  .  .  It  is  the  way  in  which  the  elements 
are  combined  into  organs,  and  the  development  and 
elaboration  of  function  as  dependent  upon  these  or- 
gans, which  constitute  the  marked  differences  between 
the  nervous  system  of  man  and  that  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals." 2 

"  The  physical  basis  of  human  consciousness  is  cer- 
tainly pre-eminently  .  .  .  the  convoluted  cor- 
tex of  the  cerebrum."  3  Psychology  seeks  to  learn 
the  nature  of  the  'mind,  as  it  is  revealed  by  its  relation 
to  the  body  and  to  the  objects  of  the  external  world 
of  which  it  takes  cognizance.  The  stimulations 


1  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life. 

2  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology. 

3  Ladd,  Physiological  Psychology, 


124  Conscience. 

"  which  act  upon  the  living  body  substance  .  .  . 
either  have  their  origin  in  the  body  itself  and  serve 
to  regulate  the  relation  existing  between  the  indi- 
vidual organs,  or  they  originate  in  the  external  world 
and  serve  by  their  stimulating  effect  to  connect  the 
body  with  its  environment.  To  receive  these  external 
stimulations,  the  body  is  provided  with  special  organs, 
the  sense  organs.  The  stimulation  is  carried  from 
the  sense  organs  by  means  of  a  special  apparatus,  the 
nervous  system,  to  the  muscles  in  which  the  transfor- 
mation of  energy  chiefly  takes  place."  *  The  nervous 
system  plays  the  role  of  a  "  uniting  anatomical  and 
physiological  bond." 2  "  Meynert  .  .  .  calls 
the  cortex  of  the  hemispheres  the  surface  of  projec- 
tion for  every  muscle  and  every  sensitive  point  of  the 
body.  The  muscles  and  the  sensitive  points  are  rep- 
resented each  by  a  cortical  point,  and  the  Brain  is 
little  more  than  the  sum  of  all  these  cortical  points."  3 
The  nervous  system  is  "  for  receiving  impressions  and 
discharging  reactions  preservative  to  the  individual 
and  his  kind.  .  .  .  Anatomically,  therefore, 
the  nervous  system  falls  into  three  main  divisions 
comprising — 1.  The  fibres  which  carry  currents  in ; 
2.  The  organs  of  central  redirection  of  them ;  and  3. 
The  fibres  which  carry  them  out.  Functionally,  we 
have  sensation,  central  reflection,  and  motion  to  cor- 
respond to  these  anatomical  divisions."  *  Psycholog- 

1  Schenck  and  Gurber,  Human  Physiology. 

2  Martin,  The  Human  Body, 

3  James,  Psychology. 
*  James,  Psychology, 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        125 

ically,  the  "  three  fundamental  conscious  processes  " 
are  "  Sensation,"  "  Cerebration  or  Intellection,"  and 
the  "  Tendency  to  Action."  *  "  The  highest  centres 
.  .  .  probably  contain  nothing  but  arrangements 
for  representing  impressions  and  movements,  and 
other  arrangements  for  coupling  the  activity  of  these 
arrangements  together.  Currents  pouring  in  from 
the  sense-organs  first  excite  some  arrangements,  which 
in  turn  excite  others,  until  at  last  a  discharge  down- 
wards of  some  sort  occurs.  .  .  .  All  the  cur- 
rents probably  have  feelings  going  with  them,  and 
sooner  or  later  bring  movements  about."  2 

Sensations  are  "First  things  in  the  way  of  con- 
sciousness. They  are  the  immediate  results  upon 
consciousness  of  nerve-currents  as  they  enter  the 
brain,  and  before  they  have  awakened  any  suggestions 
or  associations  with  past  experience.  .  .  . 
Prior  to  all  impressions  on  sense  organs,  the  brain  is 
plunged  in  deep  sleep  and  consciousness  is  practically 
non-existent.  Even  the  first  weeks  after  birth  are 
passed  in  almost  unbroken  sleep  by  human  infants. 
It  takes  a  strong  message  from  the  sense-organs  to 
break  this  slumber." 3  "  Incoming  nerve-currents 
are  the  only  agents  which  normally  affect  the  brain."  * 
"  The  brain  or  other  nerve  centre  sits  in  darkness  sur- 
rounded by  a  bony  protecting  box.  To  this  main 
nerve  centre,  or  sensorium,  come  the  nerves  from  all 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology.  ^*~  R  R  /-?>^ 

3  James,  Psychology.  f^-  *          *  *  r 


4  James,  Psychology 


OF  THE 
[  UNIVERSITY  } 

OF 


126  Conscience. 

parts  of  the  body  that  have  sensation,  the  external 
skin  as  well  as  the  special  organs  of  sight,  hearing, 
taste,  smell.  With  these  come  nerves  bearing  sensa- 
tions of  pain,  temperature,  muscular  effort  —  all 
kinds  of  sensation  which  the  brain  can  receive.  These 
nerves  are  the  sole  sources  of  knowledge  to  any  ani- 
mal organism.  Whatever  idea  its  brain  may  contain 
must  be  built  up  through  these  nerve  impressions. 
The  aggregate  of  these  impressions  constitute  the 
world  as  the  organism  knows  it."  * 

The  lowest  organism  is  sensible  of  the  external 
world  only  in  a  crude  and  narrow  way.  It  knows 
roughly  the  immediate  environment  with  which  its 
body  surface  comes  into  contact  or  "  touch."  But  as 
organic  life  evolves,  the  surface  of  the  body  becomes 
more  sensitive  to  the  delicate  shadings  and  variety 
in  nature;  the  special  sense-organs  arise  from  the 
once  uniform  skin  that  had  only  the  general  sense  of 
touch.  "All  our  sensations  are  thus  modifications  of 
one  common  primary  sensibility,  represented  by  that 
of  the  skin,  or  rather  by  the  primitive  representative 
of  the  skin  in  such  an  animal  as  the  Hydra."  2  "  From 
a  general  exterior  surface  responding  equally  readily 
to  many  external  natural  forces,  we  get  a  surface 
modified  so  that  its  various  parts  respond  with  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  readiness  to  different  external 
forces ;  and  these  modified  parts  constitute  the  essen- 
tial portions  of  our  organs  of  special  sense."  8 

1  Jordan  and  Kellogg,  Animal  Life, 

2  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 

3  Martin,  The  Human  Body, 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        127 

The  matter  of  which  the  external  world  is  composed 
has  assumed  four  widely  different  forms,  known  as 
the  luminous,  gaseous,  liquid  and  solid  states,  each  of 
these  states  having  special  and  peculiar  qualities. 
There  are  accordingly  on  the  highly  differentiated 
body-surface  of  man  four  special  sense-organs,  each 
one  of  which  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  receive  impres- 
sions of  matter  that  is  in  one  of  its  four  states.  The 
organ  of  sight  is  sensitive  to  luminous  matter  only, 
that  of  smell  to  gaseous  matter  only,  the  organs  of 
taste  and  touch  to  both  liquid  and  solid  matter.  Since 
man  lives  on  the  solid  land,  he  comes  in  direct  contact 
with  solid  matter,  and  learns  through  his  general 
sense  of  touch  to  know  the  peculiar  qualities  of  solids : 
their  rough  or  smooth  surfaces,  their  hardness  or  soft- 
ness, their  weight,  temperature,  and  so  on.  Since 
man  lives  immersed  in  a  sea  of  air  or  gaseous  matter, 
his  fifth  special  sense,  that  of  hearing,  enables  him 
to  learn  of  the  movements  of  objects  that  are  not  in 
contact  with  his  body  through  their  characteristic 
effects  upon  the  intervening  air,  which  thus  acts  as  a 
medium  of  communication.  The  eye  and  the  ear  are 
end  organs  that  appear  in  the  higher  animals  and 
serve  to  acquaint  them  with  a  broader  world  than  is 
known  to  beings  that  depend  upon  "  touch  "  or  direct 
contact  exclusively.  Objects  not  in  touch  with  the 
body  produce  characteristic  effects  upon  the  substances 
air  and  light  in  contact  with  them,  and  these  media 
as  thus  modified  act  upon  the  ear  and  eye,  the  animal 
becoming  acquainted  with  .  these  remoter  objects 


128  Conscience. 

through  experience  of  their  effects  upon  the  air  and 
light.  The  air  acting  upon  the  ear  reproduces  there 
the  vibrations  or  waves  of  sound  which  the  external 
object  caused  in  it  as  it  moved  through  and  displaced 
this  sea  of  air.  The  eye  being  the  special  organ  for 
luminous  matter,  distant  illuminated  objects  become 
known  to  the  organism  through  their  modifications  of 
the  white  sunlight  which  is  reflected  from  them  to  the 
eye.  This  white  light  falling  upon  bodies  on  the 
earth's  surface  is  weakened  in  various  degrees  by  con- 
tact with  various  substances,  each  substance  absorb- 
ing a  characteristic  quantity  of  the  heat  of  the  orig- 
inally white  ray;  the  light  will  vary  in  color  when 
reflected  from  the  object,  the  color  depending  upon 
how  intense  the  light  remains  after  loss  of  some  heat 
by  contact  with  the  object.  All  light  that  is  reflected 
to  the  retina  is  completely  absorbed  by  this  black  film, 
the  characteristic  effects  of  external  objects  upon  this 
light  being  thereby  preserved  intact.  The  light  im- 
ages the  external  world  through  the  effects  of  the  ex- 
ternal objects  upon  it:  the  light  that  penetrates 
through  the  "  translucent  film  "  or  retina  to  the  visual 
centres  of  the  brain  images  by  its  modified  nature  the 
outer  object  that  caused  that  modification.  Objects 
not  in  contact  with  the  body  thus  become  known  in- 
directly through  the  medium  light. 

By  the  sense  of  touch  the  lowest  beings  gain  their 
knowledge  of  their  immediate  surroundings, —  all 
that  they  need  to  know  of  the  vast  universe  amid 
which  they  seek  to  continue  their  existence.  By  the 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        129 

highly  specialized  organ  of  sight,  man  becomes  aware 
of  a  world  that  extends  beyond  the  one  encompassed 
by  his  other  senses.  Light  from  the  heavenly  bodies 
in  the  remotest  realms  of  space  reaches  the  planet 
upon  which  he  is  confined  and  imprints  upon  his 
brain  the  consciousness  of  their  existence. 

If  nerve  impulses  be  electric  currents,  then  when 
end  organs  are  stimulated  by  the  objects  of  the  outer 
world,  electric  currents  flow  from  these  end  organs 
up  the  sensory  nerves  to  the  sensory  centres  of  the 
brain.     The  electric  impulses  are  the  effects  of  the 
action  of  the  external  objects  upon  the  organism. 
For  example,  the  volatile  substances  tested  by  the 
sense  of  smell  are  substances  that  "  have  in  a  high 
degree  the  power  of  getting  at  the  olfactory  nerves 
by   penetrating  their   mucous   investment ;  "  1  these 
gases  do  not  themselves  flow  up  the  nerve-channels  to 
the  brain,  but  they  act  chemically  upon  the  body 
substance  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  nerve,  and 
the  heat  that  is  evolved  by  this  chemical  action  is 
conducted  by  the  nerve  to  the  sensory  cells.     Again, 
"  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  sensation  of 
taste  is  due  to  the  chemical  actions  set  up  by  par- 
ticles which  find  their  way  through  the  membrane 
covering   the    nerves    of   taste;    for     .     .     .     sapid 
substances  all  belong  to  the  class  of  crystalloids,  which 
are  able  rapidly  to  permeate  animal  tissue,   while 
colloids,  which  cannot  pass  through  animal  tissue, 

*  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 


130  Conscience. 

are  all  insipid."  1  The  various  external  objects  will 
produce  each  its  unique  and  characteristic  effect  upon 
the  living  body  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  and 
the  resulting  nerve  impulse  will  derive  its  distinctive 
character  from  the  nature  of  the  action  which  gen- 
erates it.  The  organism  thus  learns  to  know  external 
bodies  not  in  an  absolute  manner,  but  in  terms  of 
their  heat-effects  upon  it.  As  the  primordial  sub- 
stance has  assumed  the  myriad  and  varied  forms  that 
constitute  the  external  world,  so  it  assumes  an  equally 
wonderful  variety  of  forms  within  the  brain,  that 
stand  as  images  and  effects  of  the  outer  world  as  re- 
lated to  the  individual  organism.  "  We  are  the 
photometers,  we  the  irritable  gold-leaf  and  tinfoil 
that  measure  the  accumulations  of  the  subtle  element. 
We  know  the  authentic  effects  of  the  true  fire  through 
every  one  of  its  million  disguises."  2 

The  organism  has  not  only  present  sensations  from 
outer  stimuli,  but  also  memories  of  past  sensations. 
The  incoming  sensory  currents  are  heat  or  force,  and 
in  the  language  of  physics,  forces  or  stresses  produce 
more  or  less  permanent  strains  in  plastic  bodies  upon 
which  they  act.  The  nervous  substance  is  unusually 
plastic,  it  has  been  likened  to  wax;  thus  transient 
nerve  impulses  imprint  more  or  less  enduring  strains 
or  structural  memories  in  nerve  cells.  These  modi- 
fied cells  mould  later  streams  of  heat  in  the  image  of 
the  original  stresses  that  made  these  strains  in  them, 

1  Spencer,  Principles  of  Biology. 

2  Emerson,  Spiritual  Laws. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        131 

just  as  an  old  river  bed  gives  later  volumes  of  water 
which  pass  over  it  the  character  and  form  of  earlier 
currents  which  made  the  channel.  "  Sensations, 
once  experienced,  modify  the  nervous  organism,  so 
that  copies  of  them  arise  again  in  the  mind  after  the 
original  outward  stimulus  is  gone."  1  "  Every  living 
structure  carries  in  itself,  in  some  sort,  the  history 
of  what  has  happened  to  it  up  to  the  present  time, 
and  of  all  that  it  has  done  under  the  influence  of  the 
different  forms  of  stimuli  which  have  acted  upon  it. 
.  .  .  Every  portion  of  the  nervous  system  falls 
under  the  physiological  laws  which  give  conditions 
to  this  so-called  '  organic  memory.'  "  2 

"  Our  mental  images  are  aroused  always  by  way 
of  association;  some  previous  idea  or  sensation  must 
have  '  suggested  '  them.  Association  is  surely  due  to 
currents  from  one  cortical  centre  to  another.  Now 
all  we  need  suppose  is  that  these  intra-cortical  cur- 
rents are  unable  to  -produce  in  the  cells  the  strong 
explosions  which  currents  from  the  sense-organs  oc- 
casion, to  account  for  the  subjective  difference  be- 
tween images  and  sensations,  without  supposing  any 
difference  in  their  local  seat.  To  the  strong  degree  of 
explosion  corresponds  the  character  of  '  vividness ' 
or  sensible  presence,  in  the  object  of  thought ;  to  the 
weak  degree,  that  of  faintness  or  outward  un- 
reality." 3 


1  James,  Psychology. 

2  Ladd,  Psychology. 

3  James,  Psychology, 


132  Conscience. 

The  organism  develops  mentally  by  learning  more 
and  more  about  the  world  through  the  accumulation 
of  sense  impressions;  present  stimuli  recall  certain 
past  experiences,  and  this  broader  knowledge  guides 
the  animal's  reaction.  A  simple  sensation  is  "  an 
abstraction  never  realized  in  adult  life.  Anything 
which  affects  our  sense-organs  does  also  more  than 
that:  it  arouses  processes  in  the  hemispheres  which 
are  partly  due  to  the  organization  of  that  organ 
by  past  experiences,  and  the  results  of  which  in  con- 
sciousness are  described  as  ideas  which  the  sensation 
suggests.  The  first  of  these  ideas  is  that  of  the  thing 
to  which  the  sensible  quality  belongs.  The  conscious- 
ness of  particular  material  things  present  to  sense 
is  ...  called  perception." *  The  various  sug- 
gestions are  "  one  and  all  products  of  the  same  psycho- 
logical machinery  of  association.  .  .  .  The 
chief  cerebral  conditions  of  perception  are  old  paths 
of  association  radiating  from  the  sense-impression."  2 

Perception  "  differs  from  sensation  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  farther  facts  associated  with  the  object 
of  the  sensation.  .  .  .  Sensational  and  repro- 
ductive brain-processes  combined,  then,  are  what  give 
us  the  content  of  our  perceptions."  3  "  Part  of  what 
we  perceive  comes  through  our  senses  from  the  object 
before  us,  another  part  .  .  .  always  comes  out 
of  our  own  mind."  4  "  All  perception  is  interpreta- 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 

3  James,  Principles  of  Psychology. 
*  James,  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        133 

tion ;  and  from  partial  or  mistaken  interpretation  all 
degrees  and  kinds  of  illusions  and  hallucinations  re- 
sult." *  "  In  every  illusion  what  is  false  is  what  is 
inferred,  not  what  is  immediately  given."  2 

The  diverse  impressions  of  the  outer  world  that 
man  receives  through  incoming  sensory  currents  be- 
come more  and  more  connected  and  related,  the  proc- 
ess being  known  as  "  association."  The  sensory  cells 
in  which  the  structural  memories  are  imprinted  are 
connected  with  one  another  by  means  of  their  out- 
growths or  fibres ;  thus  "  the  fibres  furnish  the  phys- 
ical basis  of  association." 3  Since  the  fibres  are 
merely  cell-outgrowths,  and  since  use  causes  growth, 
the  oftener  nerve-currents  flow  from  a  given  cell  to  a 
second  cell,  the  longer  will  grow  the  fibre  connecting 
the  two  and  the  smaller  will  become  the  anatomical 
gap  between  them;  the  path  between  the  two  cells 
thus  becoming  more  continuous  and  the  resistance 
lower,  currents  will  seek  more  readily  this  easy  chan- 
nel. "  The  psychological  law  of  association  of  objects 
thought  of  through  their  previous  contiguity  in 
thought  or  experience  would  thus  be  an  effect,  within 
the  mind,  of  the  physical  fact  that  nerve-currents 
propagate  themselves  easiest  through  those  tracts  of 
conduction  which  have  been  already  most  in  use."  4 
"  The  associative  fibres  probably  increase  in  number 
as  the  individual  grows  older  and  connects  his  knowl- 

iLadd,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 

a  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System. 

*  James,  Principles  of  Psychology. 


134  Conscience. 

edge  by  thought  relations."  1  "  While  the  nerve  cells 
are  complete  in  number  in  childhood,  yet  their 
branches  and  consequently  their  means  of  communi- 
cating with  other  cells  are  not  fully  developed  until 
much  later."  2 

Concepts  are  formed  from  the  sense  percepts.  "  We 
come  ...  to  think  of  whole  classes  of  things 
as  well  as  of  single  specimens ;  and  to  think  of  the  spe- 
cial qualities  or  attributes  of  things  as  well  as  of  the 
complete  things  —  in  other  words,  we  come  to  have 
universals  and  abstracts  .  .  .  for  our  objects."  3 
"  In  the  course  of  our  education,  objects  at  first  ap- 
pearing as  wholes  are  analyzed  into  parts,  and  objects 
appearing  separately  are  brought  together  and  appear 
as  new  compound  wholes  to  the  mind.  Analysis  and 
synthesis  are  thus  the  incessantly  alternating  mental 
activities,  a  stroke  of  the  one  preparing  the  way  for  a 
stroke  of  the  other."  4  Imagination  "  is  in  some  sort 
an  underlying  and  unifying  mental  activity  "  which 
"  binds  the  data  of  immediate  experience  into  an 
ideal  whole,  in  preparation  for  the  supreme  synthesis 
of  the  reasoning  faculty."  5 

"  Much  of  our  thinking  consists  of  trains  of  images 
suggested  one  by  another,  of  a  sort  of  spontaneous 
revery  of  which  it  seems  likely  enough  that  the  higher 
brutes  should  be  capable.  This  sort  of  thinking 

1  Halleck,  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System. 

2  Martin,  The  Human  Body,  Briefer  Course, 
s  James,  Psychology. 

*  James,  Psychology. 
BLadd,  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.         135 

leads  nevertheless  to  rational  conclusions,  both  pra&- 
tical  and  theoretical.  The  links  between  the  terms 
are  either  '  contiguity  '  or  '  similarity/  and  with  a 
mixture  of  both  these  things  we  can  hardly  be  very 
incoherent.  As  a  rule,  in  this  sort  of  irresponsible 
thinking,  the  terms  which  fall  to  be  coupled  together 
are  empirical  concretes,  not  abstractions.  .  .  . 
Our  thought  here  may  be  rational,  but  it  is  not  rea- 
soned, is  not  reasoning  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term. 
In  reasoning,  although  our  results  may  be  thought 
of  as  concrete  things,  they  are  not  suggested  imme- 
diately by  other  concrete  things,  as  in  the  trains  of 
simply  associative  thought.  They  are  linked  to  the 
concretes  which  precede  them  by  intermediate  steps, 
and  these  steps  are  formed  by  abstract  general  char- 
acters articulately  denoted  and  expressly  analyzed  out. 
.  .  .  Eeasoning  helps  us  out  of  unprecedented 
situations  —  situations  for  which  all  our  common  as- 
sociative wisdom,  all  the  '  education  '  which  we  share 
in  common  with  the  beasts,  leaves  us  without  re- 
source. .  .  .  Let  us  make  this  ability  to  deal 
with  novel  data  the  technical  differentia  of  reason- 
ing."  » 

Passing  from  this  brief  survey  of  Sensation  and 
Intellection,  we  find  in  the  third  fundamental  con- 
scious process,  the  Tendency  to  Action,  additional 
evidence  of  heat  being  the  conscious  power  in  the 
brain.  If  heat  were  conscious  force,  motion  would 

i  James,  Psychology. 


136  Conscience. 

be  the  characteristic  of  consciousness,  since  heat  is 
motive  power  and  energy.  Now  it  is  a  fact  that  "  all 
consciousness  is  motor,"  *  and  the  terms  "  stream  of 
consciousness  "  and  "  nerve  currents  "  are  used  to  ex- 
press this  characteristic.  "  Consciousness  is  in  its 
very  nature  impulsive.  We  do  not  first  have  a  sen- 
sation or  thought,  and  then  have  to  add  something 
dynamic  to  it  to  get  a  movement.  Every  pulse  of 
feeling  which  we  have  is  the  correlate  of  some  neural 
activity  that  is  already  on  its  way  to  instigate  a 
movement.  Our  sensations  and  thoughts  are  but 
cross-sections,  as  it  were,  of  currents  whose  essential 
consequence  is  motion,  and  which  have  no  sooner  run 
in  at  one  nerve  than  they  are  ready  to  run  out  by 
another.  .  .  .  Movement  is  the  natural  imme- 
diate effect  of  the  process  of  feeling,  irrespective  of 
what  the  quality  of  the  feeling  may  be.  It  is  so  in  re- 
flex action,  it  is  so  in  emotional  expression,  it  is  so  in 
the  voluntary  life."  2 

Actions  of  external  bodies  upon  the  organism  lead 
to  reactions  of  the  organism  upon  them.  "  The  affer- 
ent nerves,  when  excited  by  some  physical  irritant 
.  .  .  convey  the  excitement  to  the  nervous  cen- 
tres. The  commotion  set  up  in  the  centres  does 
not  stop  there,  but  discharges  through  the  ef- 
ferent nerves,  exciting  movements  which  vary  with 
the  animal  and  with  the  irritant  applied." 3 


1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 

3  James,  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        137 

"  The  whole  neural  organism  ...  is,  physi- 
ologically considered,  but  a  machine  for  con- 
verting stimuli  into  reactions;  and  the  intellectual 
part  of  our  life  is  knit  up  with  but  the 
middle  or  -'  central '  part  of  the  machine's  opera- 
tions." x  The  force  that  operates,  guides  and  utilizes 
the  bodily  machine  is  heat, —  which  becomes  intensi- 
fied into  conscious  energy  by  the  high  resistance  of- 
fered to  its  passage  through  the  cerebral  cortex,  where 
its  course  is  not  pre-determined  by  the  presence  of 
much  used  and  well  connected  paths  of  cells  and 
fibres,  as  is  the  case  in  the  lower  centres  where  cur- 
rents flow  swiftly  and  with  slight  concentration  and 
subconsciousness  along  little-resisting,  well-formed 
channels.  While  conscious  energy  is  dependent 
for  its  generation  upon  the  chemical  processes  of 
the  body,  the  body  exists  as  the  means  towards, 
this  end.  Each  conscious  life  seeks  to  continue  its 
existence,  and  since  this  is  dependent  upon 
the  preservation  of  the  body,  the  mind  and  the 
body  have  a  common  purpose  to  fulfill  amid 
their  surroundings.  The  external  objects  that  act 
upon  the  organism  tend  either  to  exalt  or  to  depress 
the  indwelling  life,  and  this  vital  heat  is  perpetuated 
by  proper  reactions  upon  the  outside  world.  "  The 
essence  of  mental  life  and  bodily  life  are  one,  namely 
'  the  adjustment  of  inner  to  outer  relations.' 
.  .  .  Primarily  .  .  .  and  fundamentally, 

J  James,  Psychology. 


138  Conscience. 

the  mental  life  is  for  the  sake  of  action  of  a  pre- 
servative sort."  * 

"  All  stimulations  which  heighten  vitality  give  the 
organic  basis  of  pleasure.  .  .  .  The  stimula- 
tions which  the  organism  tends  towards  are  those 
which  heighten  its  vitality,  which  give  it  pleasure,  and 
those  from  which  it  draws  back  are  those  whose  effect 
upon  it  is  the  contrary  —  the  damaging,  the  painful 
ones.  This  is  ...  the  most  natural  thing  in 
the  world  for  nature  to  do  —  to  endow  her  creatures 
with  a  great  power  of  self-preservation  and  self-im- 
provement." 2  "  In  this  fundamental  division 
of  movements,  .  .  .  expansions,  heightened 
motor  energy,  and  excess  discharge,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  contractions,  lowered  energy,  inhibited  discharge, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  have  '  hedonic  ex- 

pression/ with  the  law  of  its  twofold  manifestation. 
.  .  .  All  expression,  properly  so-called,  is  hedonic 
expression,  which  is  the  reflection,  in  the  organic  and 
muscular  functions,  of  the  relative  influence  of  ex- 
perience of  any  kind  upon  the  vitality  of  the  organ- 
ism." 3  As  "  present  pleasures  are  tremendous  rein- 
forcers,  and  present  pains  tremendous  inhibitors  of 
whatever  action  leads  to  them,  so  the  thoughts  of 
pleasures  and  pains  take  rank  amongst  the  thoughts 
which  have  most  impulsive  and  inhibitive  power."  * 
Acts  of  response  have,  then,  "  usually  the  common 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  Baldwin,  Mental  Development. 
s  Baldwin,  Mental  Development. 
4  James,  Psychology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        139 

character  of  being  of  service.  They  ward  off  the 
noxious  stimulus  and  support  the  beneficial  one; 
whilst  if,  in  itself  indifferent,  the  stimulus  be  a  sign 
of  some  distant  circumstance  of  practical  importance, 
the  animal's  acts  are  addressed  to  this  circumstance 
so  as  to  avoid  its  perils  or  secure  its  benefits,  as  the 
case  may  be."  *  "  The  adjustment  is  to  immediately 
present  objects  in  lower  animals  and  in  infants.  It  is 
to  objects  more  and  more  remote  in  time  and  space, 
and  inferred  by  means  of  more  and  more  exact  proc- 
esses of  reasoning,  when  the  grade  of  mental  devel- 
opment grows  more  advanced." 2  Man  finally 
seeks  his  higher  self  and  broader  life  in  learning  how 
Nature  considered  as  a  unity  relates  to  him  and 
how  he  should  conduct  himself  towards  this  grand 
whole. 

We  begin  life  with  instinctive  and  general  reactions 
to  the  immediate  environment;  these  functions  are 
chiefly  the  vegetative  ones  and  are  performed  by  the 
lower  centres  reflexly  and  subconsciously,  for  incom- 
ing heat  currents  are  conducted  rapidly  along  well 
connected  paths  already  present  in  the  structure. 
Our  mental  development  consists  in  specializing 
through  the  faculty  of  reason  what  were  once  general 
reactions,  and  of  reacting  to  an  environment  that 
grows  broader  and  more  complex.  An  organism 
"  develops  by  getting  habits  formed ;  and  second,  it 
develops  by  getting  new  adaptations  which  involve  the 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 


140  Conscience. 

breaking  up  or  modification  of  habits."  *  In  time  a 
man  arrives  at  the  stage  where  he  reacts  upon  ideas, 
and  not  merely  upon  present  sensory  stimuli,  and 
expends  his  mental  power  no  longer  exclusively  in 
instigating  proper  present  reactions,  but  in  reflec- 
tion and  abstract  reasoning  at  the  expense  of  bodily 
activity,  the  nerve  currents  pursuing  their  course 
through  various  regions  within  the  brain  itself,  in- 
stead of  seeking  an  outlet  in  muscular  action. 

An  incoming  sensory  current,  reinforced  by  the 
heat  generated  by  the  stimulated  nerve  cells,  seeks 
through  the  nerve  centres  a  course  that  will  lead  to  a 
useful  reaction,  the  current  finally  escaping  through 
those  efferent  nerves  that  lead  to  the  muscles  that  are 
to  produce  the  reaction.  Reactions  may  be  classed  as 
those  of  instinct,  of  habit,  of  will,  and  of  reason. 
All  reactions  are  rational,  but  they  differ  in  the  ease 
with  which  they  are  performed.  A  novel  stimulus 
requires  to  be  reacted  upon  in  a  novel  way;  reason- 
ing is  the  more  or  less  difficult  process  by  which  a 
new  reaction  is  found  that  is  adapted  to  the  novel 
object.  Through  the  process  of  reason  the  current 
makes  for  itself  a  new  path  through  the  nerve  centres 
to  a  useful  motor  outlet,  certain  central  cells  being 
traversed  in  succession  which  have  not  been  used  to- 
gether previously  and  which  are  therefore  not  con- 
nected with  one  another  by  their  outgrowths  or  fibres. 
When  a  reaction  has  once  been  reasoned  out  and 

i  Baldwin,  Mental  Development, 


f 


OF   THF 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        141 

executed,  its  memory  remains  and  it  can  be  repeated. 
Through  will,  a  slightly  used,  poorly  connected  and 
highly-resisting  path  to  a  purposeful  action  is  pur- 
sued, heat  concentration  and  reinforcement  from  cell- 
combustion  being  the  means  by  which  the  current 
overcomes  with  effort  the  resistance  of  the  path.  The 
oftener  the  voluntary  action  is  repeated,  the  better 
connected  becomes  the  path  as  a  result  of  the  growth 
of  the  fibres,  and  the  swifter,  less  concentrated  and 
less  conscious  the  current  that  uses  that  path,  until 
voluntary  reaction  shades  into  habit.  An  habitual  re- 
action perfects  more  and  more  the  connections  of  the 
path,  until  finally  the  well-formed  path  becomes  a 
part  of  the  nervous  structure  and  is  inherited  by  the 
next  generation.  Instinct  is  the  use  of  an  inherited 
path  through  the  nerve  centres  to  a  useful  motor  dis- 
charge. Instinctive  reactions  are  subconscious  and 
reflex,  owing  to  the  well-formed  path.  In  short,  a 
reasoned  reaction  is  the  finding  by  a  conscious  cur- 
rent of  a  new  path  through  the  nerve  centres  to  an 
adapted  response  to  a  novel  stimulus,  a  voluntary  re- 
action is  the  using  of  a  once-reasoned  but  still  poorly 
connected  and  difficult  path,  habit  is  the  use  of  a  path 
well  connected  from  frequent  use ;  and  instinct  is  the 
use  of  an  inherent  path  in  the  nervous  system.  The 
easier  the  path,  the  less  concentrated  and  less  con- 
scious the  current.  The  higher  centres  were  evolved 
later  than  the  spinal  cord;  while  the  paths  of  the 
spinal  cord  are  inherent  in  the  structure,  the  paths  in 
the  cerebrum  are  still  poorly  connected  or  yet  to  be 


142  Conscience. 

made,  and  here  the  currents  are  concentrated  by  the 
resistance  into  conscious  energy. 

"  An  emotion  is  causally  accounted  for,  as  the 
arousal  by  an  object  of  a  lot  of  reflex  acts  which  are 
forthwith  felt."  1  "  The  bodily  changes  follow  di- 
rectly the  perception  of  the  exciting  fact,  and 
our  feeling  of  the  same  changes  as  they  oc- 
cur is  the  emotion."  2  "  The  particular  organic  and 
muscular  states  which  are  associated  with  the  emo- 
tions, such  as  fear,  anger,  etc.,  and  called  popularly 
their  expression,  must  have  arisen  not  ,  .  . 
as  expressions  of  anything,  but  as  co-ordinations  and 
associations  of  reactions  which  proved  useful  to  the 
organism  in  maintaining  and  improving  its  vitality. 
All  of  them,  then,  were  originally  utility  reactions, 
and  arose  each  in  its  place,  and  the  system  of  them 
as  a  whole,  as  special  adaptations."  3 

Since  consciousness  is  rational  energy  which  ac- 
complishes its  purpose,  a  current,  when  confronted 
with  two  or  more  possible  ends,  has  the  power  and 
free  will  to  decide  upon  the  end  it  will  attain.  The 
easily-conducting  path  leading  to  the  attainment  of 
the  more  habitual  end  tends  to  draw  off  the  current, 
and  the  conscious  power  and  effort  of  the  current 
has  to  be  exerted  to  attend  to  and  consider  the  pos- 
sibility of  realizing  a  more  ideal  end,  and  to  overcome 
the  great  resistance  of  that  new  path  leading  to  its 


1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 

s  Baldwin,  Mental  Development. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        143 

attainment.  Where  two  ends  are  presented  to  a 
current,  not  the  brain-path  to  either  end,  but  the  cur- 
rent's own  power  and  rational  consciousness  deter- 
mines its  course.  If  the  path  determined  the  cur- 
rent's course,  the  easier  path  would  of  course  be  the 
one  taken,  whereas  moral  action  "  is  action  in  the  line 
of  the  greatest  resistance."  *  The  essence  of  con- 
sciousness is  rationality;  conscious  currents  do  not 
drift  powerlessly  and  aimlessly  in  the  easier  paths  re- 
gardless of  whither  those  paths  lead.  To  attain 
higher  and  more  difficult  ends,  by  the  exercise  of  in- 
creasing will  power,  is  the  purpose  and  meaning  of 
man's  life.  "  If  the  f  searching  of  our  heart  and 
reins ?  be  the  purpose  of  this  human  drama,  then 
what  is  sought  seems  to  be  what  effort  we  can  make. 
.  .  .  The  huge  world  that  girdles  us  about 
puts  all  sorts  of  questions  to  us,  and  tests 
us  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  .  .  .  We  an- 
swer by  consents  or  non-consents  and  not  by 
words.  What  wonder  that  these  dumb  responses 
should  seem  our  deepest  organs  of  communication 
with  the  nature  of  things !  What  wonder  if  the  ef- 
fort demanded  by  them  be  the  measure  of  our  worth 
as  men !  What  wonder  if  the  amount  which  we  ac- 
cord of  it  were  the  one  strictly  underived  and  original 
contribution  which  we  make  to  the  world !  "  2 

When  nerve  currents  from  the  sensory  areas,  re- 
inforced by  heat  from  stimulated  cells,  have  flowed 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  James,  Psychology. 


144  Conscience. 

either  reflexly  over  well-connected  paths  or  volun- 
tarily over  highly-resisting  paths  through  the  centres 
to  definite  motor  cells,  they  flow  thence  along  efferent 
nerves  to  certain  muscles.  Currents  are  subconscious 
in  their  course  from  motor  cells  to  muscles,  since  ef- 
ferent fibres,  which  are  the  continuous  outgrowths  of 
motor  cells  and  are  coarse  threads  as  compared  with 
the  fibres  within  the  nerve  centres,  are  paths  which  do 
not  offer  sufficient  resistance  to  concentrate  the  cur- 
rents into  conscious  energy.  "  It  is  of  the  essence 
of  all  consciousness  (or  of  the  neural  process  which 
underlies  it)  to  instigate  movement  of  some  sort."  * 
"  The  muscles  .  .  .  are  essentially  organs  of  mo- 
tion. .  .  .  By  means  of  muscles  the  varied  and 
wonderful  movements  of  the  body  are  performed."  2 
The  muscles  are  "  contractile,,  spindle-shaped  cells, 
which  are  held  together  in  bundles  by  a  cement-like 
substance."  3  "  The  contraction  of  the  muscle  takes 
place  when  it  is  stimulated."  4  The  stimulus  is  the 
heat  current  from  a  motor  nerve,  which  ignites  the 
muscle  fuel  and  starts  combustion  and  heat  pro- 
duction. "  In  a  stimulated  muscle  the  physiological 
combustion  is  increased,  whereby  energy  is  set  free 
which  produces  the  contraction  and  performs  the 
work."  5  "  In  the  active  muscle  the  processes  of  com- 
bustion are  enormously  increased.  During  muscular 

1  James,  Psychology. 

2  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

3  Walker,  Anatomy,  Physiology  and  Hygiene. 

4  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 
B  Schenck  and  Gtirber,  Human  Physiology. 


The  Science  of  Consciousness.        145 

activity  the  consumption  of  oxygen  and  the  formation 
of  carbon  dioxide  may  be  increased  to  four  or  five 
times  that  during  rest."  1  "  A  muscle  works  by  the 
oxidation  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  of  carbon  and  hy- 
drogen, much  as  a  steam-engine  does ;  the  proteid  con- 
stituents of  the  muscle  answer  roughly  to  the  metallic 
parts  of  the  engine,  to  the  machinery  using  the  energy 
liberated  by  the  oxidations,  but  itself  only  suffering 
wear  and  tear  bearing  no  direct  proportion  to  the 
work  done."  2 

The  mind  can  control  the  body  and  use  the  muscles 
as  tools  for  the  attainment  of  its  purposes,  since 
nerve  currents  are  heat  currents  which  can  ignite  the 
fuel  of  whatever  muscles  they  flow  into  and  thereby 
generate  force  for  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  "All 
nerves,  such  as  motor  or  secretory,  which  can  throw 
working  tissues  into  activity,  are  in  a  certain  sense 
thermic  nerves ;  since  they  excite  increased  oxidation 
and  heat  production  in  the  parts  under  their  con- 
trol." 3 

The  "  stream  of  consciousness  "  is  a  stream  of  heat 
energy  as  it  flows  through  an  individual  brain  as  its 
channel.  The  organic  memories  of  past  experience 
form  part  of  the  structure  of  the  brain,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  conscious  stream  will  be  moulded  by  the 
structures  of  the  various  parts  of  the  brain  traversed. 
The  mind  seeks  to  preserve  the  body,  on  which  it  de- 


1  Schenck  and  Giirber,  Human  Physiology. 

2  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 

3  Martin,  The  Human  Body. 


146  Conscience. 

pends  for  its  support,  amid  the  physical  environment 
which  acts  upon  it,  and  seeks  to  realize  its  own  higher 
life  and  purposes  through  a  proper  use  of  the  bodily 
organs  as  tools  for  the  work  it  wills  to  do.  The 
primordial  substance  luminous  heat,  as  it  streams 
in  all  its  power  and  activity  through  the  brain  of  an 
organic  being  as  its  path,  constitutes  the  individual 
soul  and  conscious  force. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PHILOSOPHY,  OR  CONSCIENCE. 

Within  the  last  century  physicists  have  assumed  the 
existence  of  an  all-pervading  substance  ether  as  their 
means  of  explaining  the  nature  of  swiftly  moving 
light.  If  ether  is  not  conceived  logically,  one  is  jus- 
tified in  questioning  it  as  a  reality  of  the  external 
world ;  and  if  ether  is  not  a  physical  reality,  light  it- 
self is  a  substance.  The  facts  of  nature  that  scientific 
experiments  bring  to  man's  knowledge  are  indisput- 
able, but  not  so  the  scientific  theories  that  arise  as  in- 
terpretations and  explanations  of  these  various  facts. 
"  Modern  science  is  not  more  distinguished  for  its 
widely  extended  and  carefully  guarded  observation 
than  for  its  subtile  and  stupendous  theories.  But 
every  theory  is  the  product,  of  necessity  and  by  virtue 
of  its  very  nature  as  theory,  of  the  constructive  im- 
agination. It  is  a  synthesis  explanatory  of  facts  by 
reference  to  an  ideal  principle.  And  what  a  marvel- 
lous complex  equipment  of  entities  and  laws  is  that 
with  which  the  devotee  of  the  natural  sciences  finds 
himself  possessed  whenever  he  resorts  to  this  treas- 
ure-house of  the  picture-making  faculty!  Here  are 
beings  and  modes  of  behavior,  not  only  unlike  any- 
thing that  comes  within  the  sphere  of  perceptive 

147 


148  Conscience. 

reality,  but  even  combining  within  themselves  the 
idealized  potencies  of  most  contradictory  real  quali- 
ties. Such  are  the  luminiferous  ether,  the  electricity 
that  is  a  physical  entity,  perchance,  without  having 
mass,  the  atoms  that  are  too  large  to  be  imagined 
as  mere  points,  and  yet  not  large  enough  to  be 
imagined  in  terms  of  sensuous  imagination,  whether 
of  sight  or  touch.  The  changes  which  are  ceaselessly 
going  on  in  these  beings,  and  which  theoretically  un- 
derlie and  account  for  all  physical  change,  make  the 
most  exhausting  demands  upon  constructive  imag- 
ination, if  we  are  to  have  any  idea  whatever  as  to 
what  these  beings  are  really  about."  1 

If  light  is  a  substance,  the  several  sciences  blend 
into  a  philosophy  of  nature  through  this  substance: 
the  universe  has  evolved  as  the  various  metamor- 
phoses of  primordial  light  in  void  space.  In  nebula? 
of  light  all  Matter,  Energy,  Life  and  Consciousness 
have  their  origin.  In  the  beginning  were  the  Light 
and  the  Void,  and  the  forms  of  creation  have  arisen 
from  the  process  of  the  ever-increasing  diffusion  of 
the  once  concentrated  substance  through  space.  At 
equal  periods  of  time  clouds  of  white  light  or 
"  nebulae "  have  in  succession  entered  space  from 
their  source,  the  eternal,  immutable,  perfect  Light 
beyond  the  void.  Once  in  space,  a  nebula  begins  the 
age-long  process  of  gradual  diffusion.  Some  of  the 
light  concentrated  in  the  nebula  constantly  radiates 
into  space,  thus  leaving  the  nebula's  exposed  surface 
i  Ladd,  Psychology. 


Conscience.  149 

less  concentrated  or  a  substance  no  longer  continuous 
but  with  infinitesimal  voids  or  pores.  This  cooling 
surface  flame  thus  slowly  evolves  into  an  atmosphere 
of  weaker  flames  or  "  elements  "  of  matter.  In  due 
time  the  atmosphere  of  heavy,  dense  elements  is  cast 
off  by,  or  rather  breaks  away  from,  the  swiftly  moving 
nucleus  of  imponderable  light,  and  becomes  a  planet, 
controlled  in  its  motion  by  the  gravitational  force 
of  the  sun  from  which  it  sprang.  The  planetary  mat- 
ter continues  the  process  of  the  radiation  of  heat  into 
space,  and  evolves  into  new  and  complex  forms 
through  the  union  of  two  or  more  elements;  while 
radiated  heat  from  the  sun  partly  counteracts  and 
further  complicates  the  cooling  process  of  this  planet- 
ary matter.  This  primordial  substance  light  from 
which  all  forms  of  matter  have  evolved  as  stages  in 
its  diffusion  or  "  cooling  "  in  space  is,  further,  the 
energy  and  the  life-force  and  the  conscious  power  of 
the  universe. 

"  There  is  one  animal,  one  plant,  one  matter,  and 
one  force.  The  laws  of  light  and  of  heat  translate 
each  other ; —  so  do  the  laws  of  sound  and  of  color ; 
and  so  galvanism,  electricity,  and  magnetism  are 
varied  forms  of  the  selfsame  energy."  *  "  Then  we 
see  that  things  wear  different  names  and  faces,  but 
belong  to  one  family;  that  the  secret  cords  or  laws 
show  their  well-known  virtue  through  every  variety, 
be  it  animal,  or  plant,  or  planet,  and  the  interest  is 
gradually  transferred  from  the  forms  to  the  lurking 
1  Emerson,  Poetry  and  Imagination. 


150  Conscience. 

method."  *  "  Air  is  matter  subdued  by  heat.  As 
the  sea  is  the  grand  receptacle  of  all  rivers,  so  the  air 
is  the  receptacle  from  which  all  things  spring,  and 
into  which  they  all  return.  The  invisible  and  creep- 
ing air  takes  form  and  solid  mass.  Our  senses  are 
skeptics,  and  believe  only  the  impression  of  the  mo- 
ment, and  do  not  believe  the  chemical  fact  that  these 
huge  mountain-chains  are  made  up  of  gases  and  roll- 
ing wind.  But  Nature  is  as  subtle  as  she  is  strong. 
.  .  .  All  things  are  flowing,  even  those  that 
seem  immovable.  The  adamant  is  always  passing 
into  smoke.  .  .  .  The  earth  burns,  the  moun- 
tains burn  and  decompose,  slower,  but  incessantly. 
.  .  .  Intellect  is  a  fire ;  rash  and  pitiless  it  melts 
this  wonderful  bone-house  which  is  called  man. 
.  .  .  All  thus  burns, —  the  universe  in  a  blaze 
kindled  from  the  torch  of  the  sun."  2  "  In  that  Fire- 
whirlwind,  Creation  and  Destruction  proceed  to- 
gether ;  ever  as  the  ashes  of  the  Old  are  blown  about, 
do  organic  filaments  of  the  New  mysteriously  spin 
themselves."  3  "  All  Nature  is  a  torrent  of  ceaseless 
change.  We  are  but  parts  of  a  grand  system,  and  the 
elements  we  use  are  not  our  own."  *  "  Through  the 
substance  of  the  universe,  as  through  a  torrent,  pass 
all  particular  bodies,  being  all  of  the  same  nature, 
and  all  joint  workers  with  the  universe  itself,  as  in 
one  of  our  bodies  so  many  members  among  them- 

1  Emerson,  Poetry  and  Imagination. 

2  Emerson,  Society  and  Solitude,  Farming. 

3  Carlyle,   Sartor  Resartus. 
*  Steele,  Chemistry. 


Conscience.  151 

selves."  *  "  All,  were  it  only  a  withered  leaf,  works 
together  with  all,  is  borne  forward  on  the  bottomless, 
shoreless  flood  of  action,  and  lives  through  perpetual 
metamorphoses."  2 

"  The  one  Spirit's  plastic  stress 

Sweeps  through  the  dull,  dense  world,  compelling  there 

All  new  successions  to  the  forms  they  wear; 

Torturing  th'  unwilling  dross  that  checks  its  flight 

To  its  own  likeness,  as  each  mass  may  bear; 

And  bursting  in  its  beauty    and  its  might 

From  trees  and  beasts  and  men  into  the  Heaven's  light."  3 

From  the  earliest  times  man  has  recognized  the 
power  and  the  mystery  of  fire.  "  '  Know  ye/  said  an 
Ojibway  prophet,  that  the  fire  in  your  huts  and  the 
life  in  your  bodies  are  one  and  the  same  thing.' 
The  sun,  as  the  source  of  heat,  gives  life 
to  the  earth;  and  it  was  natural  to  suppose  that  the 
hearth,  '  the  sun  in  the  house/  as  the  younger  Edda 
calls  it,  radiated  life  likewise.  .  .  .  Life  was 
compared  to  a  flame,  to  a  torch;  and  no  comparison 
is  more  true.  Modern  chemistry  having  proved  that 
animal  life  is  a  constant  burning  of  oxygen,  the  an- 
cient myth  was  not  far  from  the  truth  when  it  said 
that  Prometheus  animated  the  figure  of  clay  by  put- 
ting into  it  a  spark  of  fire.  .  .  .  The  opinions 
and  beliefs  which  most  primitive  populations  have 
entertained  on  the  nature  of  fire  in  the  hearth  were 
applied  by  them  to  the  great  cosmic  fire:  both  were 

1  Marcus  Aurelius,  Meditations. 

2  Carlyle. 

3  Shelley,  Adonais. 


152  Conscience. 

life-givers,  one  to  the  family  and  the  other  to  the 
universe;  both  were  parts  of  the  same  substance  or 
element.  It  was  taught  by  Aristotle  that  Zeus  was 
a  name  given  to  the  fire  of  heaven,  and  by  Plato 
and  Euripides  that  the  same  Hestia  burned  in  the 
humblest  hut  and  the  highest  sky."  *  According  to 
the  doctrine  of  Ovid,  fire  was  "  the  very  soul  of  na- 
ture. .  .  .  From  Jupiter  to  the  fly,  from  the 
wandering  star  to  the  tiniest  blade  of  grass,  all  be- 
ings owed  existence  to  the  fiery  element.  This 
theory,  more  or  less  distinctly  expressed,  obtained 
among  the  Aztecs,  who  invoked  in  their  prayers  '  fire 
the  most  ancient  divinity.'  "  2  "  Heraclitus  and  other 
ancient  philosophers  "  held  that  fire  "  was  the  primi- 
tive material  out  of  which  the  universe  was  formed."  3 
The  created  earth  may  be  traced  back  to  its  source, 
the  sun,  and  the  sun  to  its  source,  the  infinite  Light 
beyond  space. 

"  The  sun,  looking  down  on  the  earth, 
Can   find   nothing   his   own   deed   produced  not,   must 

everywhere  trace 
The  results  of  his  past  summer-prime."  * 

"  The  sun  warms,  enlivens,  and  animates  the  earth. 
.  .  .  Up  to  the  sun  ...  we  trace  all  the 
hidden  manifestations  of  power.  Yet  the  energy 
that  produces  such  intricate  and  wide-extended 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Fire. 

2  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Fire. 

3  Century  Dictionary  and  Cyclopedia,  Fire. 
*  Browning, 


ur    <TV*' 

Conscience. 


changes  is  only  one  twenty-three  hundrea  millionth 
part  of  the  tide  that  flows  in  every  direction  from 
this  great  central  orb.  But  what  is  our  sun  itself 
save  a  twinkling  star  beside  great  suns  like  Sirius, 
Regulus,  and  Procyon,  whose  brilliancy  in  the  far-off 
regions  of  space  drowns  our  little  sun  as  the  dazzling 
light  of  day  does  the  smoldering  blaze  of  some 
wandering  hunter  ?  "  1  From  the  earth-planet  in 
the  centre  of  space  we  behold  the  other  heavenly 
bodies  as  faint  lights  in  the  vast  distance;  even  our 
imagination  cannot  soar  to  a  full  realization  of  the 
actual  grandeur  and  glory  of  these  myriad,  great, 
swiftly  circling  spheres  of  light  that  constitute  crea- 
tion,—  the  fiery  suns  and  their  illuminated  planets 
that  form  the  great  belt  of  the  Milky  Way,  the  daz- 
zling white  nebulae  that  lie  towards  the  outer  bounds 
of  space.  Whence  those  worlds  of  light,  "  those  fires 
divine,  so  grand,  so  countless  ? "  There  is  but  one 
answer,  "  God  is  Light."  "  There  flows  onward,  with 
the  rushing  music  of  mighty  waves,  an  eternal  stream 
of  life,  and  power,  and  action,  which  issues  from 
the  original  source  of  all  life, —  from  Thy  life,  O 
Infinite  One !  for  all  life  is  Thy  life,  and  only  the  re- 
ligious eye  penetrates  to  the  realm  of  true  Beauty."  2 
Light  is  the  "  great  First  Cause,  least  under- 
stood," 3  its  nature  baffles  and  transcends  man's  finite 
understanding.  Man's  inextinguishable  wonder  "  be- 


1  Steele,  Popular  Chemistry. 

2  Fichte. 

s  Pope,  The  Universal  Prayer. 


154  Conscience. 

trays  his  conviction  that  behind  all  your  explanations 
is  a  vast  and  potent  and  living  Nature,  inexhaustible 
and  sublime,  which  you  cannot  explain.  He  is  sure 
no  book,  no  man  has  told  him  all.  He  is  sure  the 
great  Instinct,  the  circumambient  soul  which  flows 
into  him  as  into  all,  and  is  his  life,  has  not  been 
searched."  *  "  The  multitude  of  false  churches  ac- 
credits the  true  religion.  Literature,  poetry,  science 
are  the  homage  of  man  to  this  unf  athomed  secret,  con- 
cerning which  no  sane  man  can  affect  an  indifference 
or  incuriosity."  2  "  Let  that  vain  struggle  to  read  the 
mystery  of  the  Infinite  cease  to  harass  us.  It  is  a 
mystery  which,  through  all  ages,  we  shall  only  read 
here  a  line  of,  there  another  line  of.  Do  we  not 
already  know  that  the  name  of  the  Infinite  is  Good, 
is  God?"3 

Philosophy  is  the  effort  of  human  reason  to  com- 
prehend and  unify  the  world,  and  to  see  in  the  light 
of  this  knowledge  man's  place  in  Nature  and  the 
purpose  of  his  existence.  "  The  mind  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  recognize  the  unity  of  God  until  it  recog- 
nizes the  unity  of  nature ;  when  it  sees  nature  to  be 
a  whole,  a  universe  or  cosmos,  it  cannot  but  form 
a  conception  of  it  which  will  be  pantheistic,  if  the 
unity  of  substance,  law  and  evolution  be  alone 
acknowledged,  and  monotheistic  if  a  unity  of  causal- 
ity, rational  plan,  and  ethical  purpose  be  also  appre- 


1  Emerson,  Demonology. 

2  Emerson,  Nature. 

3  Carlyle. 


Conscience.  155 

bended."  1  "  Either  this  universe  is  a  mere  con- 
fused mass,  and  an  intricate  context  of  things,  which 
shall  in  time  be  scattered  and  dispersed  again:  or  it 
is  an  union  consisting  of  order,  and  administered  by 
Providence."  2  Now  "  there  is  ...  to  be  seen 
in  the  things  of  the  world,  not  a  bare  succession,  but 
an  admirable  correspondence  and  affinity."  3  Then 
"  faith  in  an  order  which  is  the  basis  of  science  " 
should  not  "  be  dissevered  from  faith  in  an  ordainer 
which  is  the  basis  of  religion."  4  Says  Descartes, 
"  By  the  name  God,  I  understand  a  substance  infinite 
[eternal,  immutable],  independent,  all-knowing,  all- 
powerful,  and  by  which  I  myself,  and  every  other 
thing  that  exists  .  .  .  were  created." 

Since  all  men  have  been  seeking  the  same  God, 
the  Creator  and  Source  of  all,  one  is  not  surprised  at 
"  the  agreements,  the  identities,  in  all  the  religions  of 
men."  5  "  The  Persians,  from  the  highest  point  of 
their  mountain-worship,  elevated  their  thoughts  and 
their  affections,  or  prayers,  to  the  Only  God; 
.  .  .  they  looked  upward  through  the  sun  of 
earth,  as  the  highest  created  type  of  the  Sun  of 
heaven ;  thus  to  their  Creator  and  Preserver."  6  The 
Hebrews  early  arrived  at  monotheism.  "  Hear,  O 
Israel :  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord ;  " 7  He  "  is 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Theism. 

2  Marcus  Aurelius,  Meditations. 

3  Marcus  Aurelius,  Meditations. 

4  Asa  Gray. 

5  Emerson. 

e  Ellis,  Skepticism  and  Divine  Revelation, 
i  Deuteronomy, 


156  Conscience. 

the  former  of  all  things ;  "  *  "  God  the  Lord,  He  that 
created  the  heavens,  and  stretched  them  forth;  He 
that  spread  abroad  the  earth  and  that  which  cometh 
out  of  it ;  He  that  giveth  breath  unto  the  people  upon 
it,  and  spirit  to  them  that  walk  therein."  2  In  the 
Vedas  of  India  one  finds  written :  "  Without  cause, 
the  first  of  all  causes;  all-ruling;  all-powerful;  the 
Creator,  Preserver,  Transformer,  of  all  things;  such 
is  the  Great  One,  Brahm."  Says  a  follower  of  the 
Christ:  "And  this  is  the  message  which  we  have 
heard  from  Him,  and  announce  unto  you,  that  God  is 
light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all."  3  "  Behold, 
even  the  moon  hath  no  brightness,  and  the  stars  are 
not  pure  in  His  sight ;  "  4  "  who  only  hath  immortal- 
ity, dwelling  in  light  unapproachable."  5  "  Nature 
is  too  thin  a  screen;  the  glory  of  the  One  breaks  in 
everywhere."  6 

Since  there  is  unity  in  nature  and  all  things  are 
parts  of  one  vast  system,  and  since  "  all  life,  every- 
where, in  so  far  as  it  is  life,  has  conscious  meaning, 
and  accomplishes  a  rational  end,"  7  the  question  arises 
as  to  man's  place  in  Nature's  system  and  as  to  the 
meaning  of  his  life.  Not  blind  forces  and  charfce, 
but  conscious,  rational  energy  is  the  power  at  work  in 
creation,  and  through  "  the  ages  one  increasing  pur- 

1  Jeremiah. 

2  Isaiah. 
s  7.  John. 
4/o6. 

57.  Timothy. 

«  Emerson,  The  Preacher.  t 

TRoyce,  The  World  and  The  Individual, 


Conscience.  157 

pose  runs."  *  Before  the  Copernican  theory  of  the 
earth's  motion  was  accepted  as  the  truth,  the  earth 
was  considered  to  be  at  rest  in  the  centre  of  space, 
all  other  heavenly  bodies  revolving  around  it.  The 
planet  on  which  man  lived  thus  occupying  a  unique 
and  central  position  in  the  universe,  man  concluded 
that  he  himself,  the  superior  of  all  beings  on  the  earth, 
was  the  chief  end  of  creation.  When  Copernicus 
convinced  men  that  the  earth  was  rotating  and  re- 
volving, the  former  unique  position  of  the  earth  was 
gone,  it  was  simply  one  of  several  planets  that  re- 
volved about  one  of  many  suns.  No  longer  could  man 
feel  that  he  held  a  special  and  important  place  in  the 
cosmic  system,  the  stars  did  not  even  form  one  sys- 
tem. ~No  evidence  remained  that  creation  centred  in 
man,  and  a  pessimistic  philosophy  resulted:  man  is 
but  an  insignificant  creature  in  a  boundless  universe, 
and  beings  far  higher  and  nobler  than  himself  may 
have  been  evolved  on  some  of  the  numerous  other 
planets  in  space. 

Let  us  consider  what  evidence  may  be  adduced  to 
prove  that  man  occupies  a  significant  place  in  na- 
ture,— "  that  the  universe  is  no  inhospitable  wander- 
ing place,  but  his  own  home ;  that  the  mighty  sweep 
of  its  events  from  age  to  age  is  but  the  working  out  of 
a  cosmic  drama  in  which  his  part  is  the  leading  one; 
and  that  all  is  an  endless  manifestation  of  one  all- 
pervading  creative  Power,  protean  in  its  myriad 

J  Tennyson,  Locksley  Hall, 


158  Conscience. 

phases,  yet  essentially  similar  to  the  conscious  soul 
within  us." 

"  The  result  so  far  reached  by  astronomers  as  the 
direct,  logical  conclusion  from  the  whole  mass  of 
facts  accumulated  by  means  of  powerful  instruments 
of  research,  which  have  given  us  the  new  astronomy, 
is  that  our  sun  is  one  of  the  central  orbs  of  a  globular 
star  cluster,  and  that  this  star  cluster  occupies  nearly 
the  central  position  in  the  exact  plane  of  the  Milky 
Way."  2  There  are  "  the  three  startling  facts  that 
we  are  in  the  centre  of  a  cluster  of  suns,  and  that  the 
cluster  is  situated  not  only  precisely  in  the  plane  of 
the  Milky  Way,  but  also  centrally  in  that  plane."  3 
"  Our  sun  is  thus  shown  to  occupy  a  position  very 
near  if  not  actually  at  the  centre  of  the  whole  visible 
universe,  and  therefore,  in  all  probability,  in  the 
centre  of  the  whole  material  universe."  4 

Since  heat  is  motive  power,  the  heavenly  bodies 
that  are  the  substance  intense  white  heat  in  their 
nuclei  —  the  suns  and  nebulae  —  move  with  enormous 
velocities.  Since  it  is  a  recognized  fact  that  light 
moves  swiftly,  if  the  stars  are  spheres  of  the  sub- 
stance light,  the  apparent  daily  revolution  of  the 
heavens  must  be  real,  and  the  earth  itself  must  be  at 
rest.  If  the  earth  is  at  rest,  the  sun  of  our  system 
moves  through  a  smaller  diurnal  circle  than  does  any 
other  star.  If  the  path  of  the  intensest  white  light  is 

1  Fiske,  Evolution  and  the  Present  Age. 

2  Wallace,  Maw's  Place  in  the  Universe. 
s  Wallace,  Man's  Place  in  the  Universe. 
*  Wallace,  Man's  Place  in  the  Universe, 


Conscience.  159 

straight,  and  the  curvature  of  the  path  increases  as  the 
light  grows  weaker  through  steady  loss  by  radiation, 
then  our  sun,  having  the  stellar  path  of  greatest  cur- 
vature, is  the  star  that  has  radiated  most  light  into 
space,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  the  oldest  star  in  the 
heavens.  The  earth  planet,  with  its  solid  crust  of 
great  age,  has,  as  a  result  of  the  advanced  stage  in  the 
cooling  process  which  its  matter  has  undergone,  be- 
come too  heavy  to  be  drawn  any  longer  through  space 
by  the  ever-weakening  sun-force.  Since  the  earth  is  the 
only  planet  of  the  sun  that  has  come  to  rest,  it  is  the 
first  planet  to  reach  a  state  of  rest  and  is  therefore  the 
heaviest,  most  cooled,  and  thus  oldest  planet  of  the 
sun,  itself  the  oldest  star.  The  earth  then,  the  oldest 
planet  of  the  oldest  star,  lies  at  rest  in  the  centre  of 
the  universe,  farthest  from  the  youngest  heavenly 
bodies,  the  nebulae  of  light,  that  glide  swiftly  through 
regions  that  are  along  the  outer  borders  of  space. 

In  evolution,  the  latest  stage  represents  the  direc- 
tion and  goal  towards  which  the  process  has  been 
tending.  The  earth,  the  oldest  star's  oldest  planet,  is 
the  most  advanced  stage  of  the  vast  cosmic  evolution. 
Turning  then  to  the  earth-planet  to  trace  the  evolu- 
tion process  farther,  we  find  that  the  early  "  inorgan- 
ic "  period  of  the  earth's  history  has  led  up  to  the  later 
period  when  organic  life  originated.  The  earth,  be- 
ing the  oldest  planet,  will  be  the  first  to  evolve  or- 
ganic life,  and  will  contain  the  highest  organic  devel- 
opment. The  one-celled  protoplasm  of  the  earth  has 
in  the  course  of  ages  evolved  into  man,  who  is 


160  Conscience. 

highest  stage  of  organic  life.  Man  is  thus  the  latest 
chapter  in  the  history  of  cosmic  evolution,  and  the 
purpose  of  creation  must  then  culminate  in  him. 

Turning  to  man  himself,  to  trace  the  evolution- 
ary process  still  farther,  we  find  that  man  has  evolved 
from  a  low  savage  state  to  an  ever  advancing  being. 
"  Man  has  risen,  though  hy  slow  and  interrupted 
steps,  from  a  lowly  condition  to  the  highest  standard 
as  yet  attained  by  him  in  knowledge,  morals,  and  re- 
ligion." 1  There  are  two  forces  which  operate  in  the 
progress  of  man  alone  of  all  the  earth's  organic  life, 
lifting  him  ever  higher  above  the  brute  world.  His 
material  progress  is  due  to  his  knowledge  of  the  use 
of  fire,  the  power  of  nature.  "  Man  is  great  by  bor- 
rowing the  might  of  the  elements."  "  Human  cul- 
ture may  be  said  to  have  begun  with  fire,  of  which 
the  uses  increased  in  the  same  ratio  as  culture  it- 
self." 2  His  spiritual  progress  is  due  to  the  birth  and 
increasing  development  in  him  of  conscience  or  the 
moral  nature.  "  Of  all  the  differences  between  man 
and  the  lower  animals,  the  moral  sense  or  conscience 
is  by  far  the  most  important."  3  Moral  action  is  the 
goal  and  the  latest  evolved  feature  of  mental  develop- 
ment. Lower  animals  and  infants  perform  only  vege- 
tative functions  for  mere  existence ;  man's  vegetative 
functions  are  performed  chiefly  by  reflex  actions, 
and  his  life  is  mainly  voluntary,  the  will  concern- 

1  Darwin,  Descent  of  Man. 

2  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Fire. 

3  Darwin,  Descent  of  Man. 


Conscience.  161 

ing  itself  with  the  realization  of  a  higher,  spiritual 
life.  Industrial  progress  and  social  cooperation  ren- 
der the  means  of  physical  existence  easier  to  obtain, 
thus  enabling  man  to  devote  his  chief  thought  to  the 
living  of  his  higher  life.  Man's  material  progress  is 
then  only  a  means  to  the  end,  spiritual  life.  Cosmic 
evolution  culminates  in  the  progress  of  man's  moral 
nature  or  conscience  towards  the  goal  of  perfection. 
To  the  argument  that  man  is  not  of  sufficient  worth 
to  be  the  chief  end  of  all  this  majestic  and  vast  crea- 
tion, one  may  answer  in  the  words  of  Emerson  that, 
although  "  a  man  is  but  a  little  thing  in  the  midst  of 
the  objects  of  nature,  yet,  by  the  moral  quality  radiat- 
ing from  his  countenance,  he  may  abolish  all  consid- 
erations of  magnitude,  and  in  his  manners  equal  the 
majesty  of  the  world."  *  "  Inorganic  "  nature  works 
as  one  vast  energy,  in  accordance  with  universal  laws, 
while  "  organic  "  beings  on  the  earth  are  individuals, 
with  power  and  freedom  to  conduct  themselves  in 
their  own  original  way.  Man  reacts  to  a  broadening 
environment  until  finally  he  conceives  of  nature  as  a 
unity,  and  the  aim  of  his  conduct  becomes  right  rela- 
tion to  this  Power.  "  The  moral  sentiment  speaks  to 
every  man  the  law  after  which  the  Universe  was  made ; 
.  .  .  there  is  a  force  always  at  work  to  make  the 
best  better  and  the  worst  good."  2  The  moral  or  re- 
ligious force  is,  in  the  language  of  Matthew  Arnold, 
the  power  not  ourselves  which  makes  for  righteous- 

1  Emerson,  Manners. 

2  Emerson. 


162  Conscience. 

ness.  The  goal  of  creation  is  man's  realization  of  the 
divine  character  and  will,  through  his  free  individual 
will.  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  jour  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect,"  * —  this  is  the  ideal 
towards  which  man  is  to  aim  and  progress.  And  that 
man  might  have  the  model  of  perfection  at  which  he 
is  to  aim,  when  there  had  already  been  some  moral 
progress  in  mankind  which  could  act  as  a  foundation, 
"  the  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and 
we  beheld  His  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten 
from  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  .  .  . 
!N~o  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time ;  the  only  begot- 
ten Son  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He 
hath  declared  Him."  2  Man's  will  is  gradually  to 
perfect  itself,  through  imitation  of  the  model,  the 
perfect  or  Divine  Will. 

"  Only  as  we  presuppose  morality  at  the  heart  of 
things,  and  a  moral  creator  of  the  universe,  can  we 
explain  the  appearance  of  conscience  or  the  moral 
sense  as  the  completion  and  crown  of  its  develop- 
ment." 3  According  to  the  view  of  Kant,  "  nobody 
can  act  morally  without  assuming  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  world  furnishes  a  field  adapted  to  moral 
action,  this  necessary  assumption  being  a  belief  in  an 
adapting  God."  Conscience  has  been  defined  as  "  the 
consciousness  of  our  organic  relation  to  this  divinely 
rational  and  supremely  moral  unity."  4 

i#.  Matthew. 

2  8.  John. 

a  Knowlton,  Origin  and  Nature  of  Conscience. 

*  Knowlton,  Origin  and  Nature  of  Conscience. 


Conscience.  163 

"  These  rules  were  writ  in  human  heart 

By  Him  who  built  the  day; 
The  columns  of  the  universe 
Not  firmer  based  than  they."  1 

The  lonely  savage  guides  his  conduct  by  sensations 
of  personal  pleasure  and  pain.  But  so  soon  as  society 
dawns,  "  so  soon  as  a  man  understands  that  he  is  not 
alone,  so  soon  as  he  feels  the  sufferings  of  other  men, 
.  .  .  then  appears  the  conflict  between  desires 
for  personal  happiness  and  conscience."  2  Our  "  deed 
of  will,  or  course  of  conduct,  ordinarily  concerns  some 
other  being  than  ourselves,  who  is,  like  ourselves,  a 
moral  and  self-conscious  or,  at  any  rate,  a  sentient 
being.  It  may  be  possible  to  show  that  rational  right 
conduct  could  not  exist  except  under  conditions  of  a 
social  community."  3  "  All  humanity  is  moving  from 
desire  for  personal  happiness  to  the  demands  of  con- 
science. And  if  conscience  is  awakened  in  you,  then 
recognize  once  for  all  that  life  is  only  in  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  demands  of  conscience.  .  .  .  What, 
then,  is  the  conscience?  Conscience  is  that  supreme 
law  of  every  living  being  that  each  one  finds  in  him- 
self, not  only  by  recognizing  the  rights  of  every 
living  being,  but  by  love  toward  this  living  being. 
The  demands  of  conscience  are  what,  in  the  language 
of  Christianity,  are  called  the  will  of  God.  That 
is  why  the  meaning  of  life  "  consists  "  in  this :  To 
do  the  will  of  God,  understood  by  us  in  our  conscience. 

1  Emerson,  The  Sovereignty  of  Ethics. 

2  Tolstoi. 

s  Ladd,  Psychology. 


164  Conscience. 

.  .  .  And  if  what  conscience  asks  be  not  clear  to 
you,  then  the  Gospel  will  give  you  the  answer."  * 
"  Christianity  lives  in  two  great  ideas  —  personal 
perfection  and  humanity.  .  .  .  The  disciple 
of  Christianity  finds  that  he  cannot  grow  perfect  ex- 
cept by  helping  his  fellow-men,  and  that  he  cannot 
effectively  help  his  fellow-men  except  out  of  the  re- 
sources of  an  ever-growing  goodness  in  himself."  2 
From  the  conception  of  God  the  Creator  and  Father 
of  all,  springs  the  conception  of  the  brotherhood  of 
man  and  the  law  of  love.  "  Have  we  not  all  one 
father  ?  hath  not  one  God  created  us  ?  why  do  we  deal 
treacherously  every  man  against  his  brother  ?  "  3 

"  'Tis  the  sublime  of  man, 
Our  noontide  majesty,  to  know  ourselves 
Parts  and  proportions  of  one  wondrous  whole ! 
This  fraternizes  man,  this  constitutes 
Our  charities  and  bearings.     But  'tis  God 
Diffused  thro'  all,  that  doth  make  all  one  whole."* 

"  Wondrous  state  of  man !  never  so  happy  as  when  he 
has  lost  all  private  interests  and  regards  and  exists 
only  in  obedience  and  love  of  the  Author."  5  "  How 
we  talk  of  submission!  as  if  it  were  .  .  .  the 
last  refuge  of  despair  instead  of  being  what  it  is  — 
the  fulfillment  and  consummation  of  our  life.  As  if 
you  took  the  chisel  which  had  been  trying  to  carve  by 

1  Tolstoi. 

2  Phillips  Brooks. 

3  Malachi. 

*  Coleridge,  Religious  Musings. 

6  Emerson,  The  Sovereignty  of  Ethics. 


Conscience.  165 

itself,  and  put  it  in  the  hand  of  Michael  Angelo,  so, 
only  infinitely  higher,  is  it  when  you  teach  your  soul 
to  say,  '  O  Lord,  not  my  will  but  Thy  will  be 
done.'  "  1 

From  its  small  beginning  in  the  primitive  human 
society,  conscience  has  been  slowly  through  the  cen- 
turies progressing  toward  the  goal  of  its  perfection 
in  the  whole  human  race,  through  imitation  by  every 
individual  will  of  the  perfect  will  of  God  as  incar- 
nated in  the  Christ;  whereby  will  be  realized  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  "  The  Bibles  of  the  world, 
or  the  sacred  books  of  each  nation,  which  express  for 
each  the  supreme  result  of  their  experience, 
are  the  majestic  expressions  of  the  universal  con- 
science." 2  These  Bibles  represent  various  stages  of 
the  progress  of  the  one  moral  law  toward  perfection, 
for  "  the  world  of  manners  and  actions  is  wrought  of 
one  stuff."  3 

The  Bible  of  Christendom  contains  the  most  com- 
plete record  of  the  law.  In  it  one  can  trace  the  pro- 
gressive history  of  conscience,  from  the  allegorical 
description  of  its  birth,  when  man  first  ate  of  "  the 
tree  of  the ;  knowledge  of  good  and  evil";  through 
the  prophets,  who  raised  their  voices  against  the 
evils  of  their  times  and  looked  forward  to  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Will  of  God ;  to  the  perfection  of  con- 
science in  the  Christ.  The  various  books  of  history 


1  Phillips  Brooks. 

2  Emerson,  Society  and  Solitude,  Books, 

3  Emerson,  Prudence. 


166  Conscience. 

that  are  joined  together  under  the  name  of  the  Bible 
describe  "  a  vast  mixed  movement  of  human  life, 
through  which  the  creative,  redemptive  purpose  of 
God  shines  as  the  body  of  heaven  for  clearness. 
.  .  .  The  Bible  is  a  book  of  individual  minds. 
A  single,  controlling,  divine  purpose  holds  them  to- 
gether." *  These  books,  "  written  as  they  were  in  the 
broad  day  of  history,  enshrining  as  they  do  the  divine 
ideals  for  humanity  at  large,  .  .  .  must  be 
carried  back  into  the  midst  of  the  common  life 
through  which  their  inspiration  came,  in  order  to  be 
truly  interpreted."  2 

Conscience  deals  with  two  classes  of  actions:  it 
urges  the  shunning  of  evil  and  the  doing  of  good. 
The  "  Old  Testament "  or  the  Will  of  God  as  con- 
ceived in  early  days,  has  to  do  chiefly  with  the  nega- 
tive side  of  morality,  the  prevention  of  evil ;  for  this 
is  fundamental,  since  human  society  could  not  remain 
in  existence  unless  certain  individual  actions  injuri- 
ous to  other  members  of  society  were  restrained.  Soci- 
ety preserves  itself  by  implanting  fear  of  punishment 
for  the  doing  of  harm,  in  its  individual  members. 
The  "  Old  Testament "  or  early  Law  may  be  ex- 
pressed as :  Fear  to  do  evil.  "  Behold,  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  that  is  wisdom ;  and  to  depart  from  evil  is  un- 
derstanding." 3  After  the  foundations  of  society  are 
laid,  by  prevention  of  harm  to  a  large  extent,  empha- 


1  Nash,  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism. 

2  Nash,  History  of  the  Higher  Criticism. 

3./06. 


Conscience.  167 

sis  can  be  given  to  the  positive  side  of  morality,  to  the 
doing  of  good,  which  is  the  force  that  causes  progress 
of  society  to  higher  levels.  The  "  New  Testament " 
or  higher  Law  is :  Love  to  do  good.  The  New  Testa- 
ment completes  and  fulfills  the  Old :  Love  to  do  good, 
and  you  will  refrain  from  doing  evil.  Love  lifts  you 
above  doing  injury  to  your  fellow-beings,  and  urges 
you  onward  towards  the  ideal  of  good.  "  Compul- 
sion and  fear  keep  us  true  to  duty,  but  love  makes  us 
larger  and  fitter  for  greater  duty  every  day." 1 
Christ  gave  the  complete  law  or  perfect  will  of  God : 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind. 
This  is  the  great  and  first  commandment.  And  a 
second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.  On  these  two  commandments  hangeth  the 
whole  law,  and  the  prophets."  2  "  For  the  whole  law 
is  fulfilled  in  one  word,  even  in  this:  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  3  "  Love  worketh  no 
ill  to  his  neighbour;  love  therefore  is  the  fulfillment 
of  the  law."  *  "  All  things  therefore  whatsoever  ye 
would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even  so  do  ye  also 
unto  them :  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets."  5 
"  And  be  not  fashioned  according  to  this  age ;  but  be 
ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  ye 
may  prove  what  is  the  good  and  well-pleasing  and  per- 

1  Phillips  Brooks. 

2  8.  Matthew. 

3  Galatians. 

4  Romans. 

5  8.  Matthew. 


168  Conscience. 

feet  will  of  God."  *  "  Be  ye  therefore  imitators  of 
God,  as  beloved  children."  2  "  We  all,  with  unveiled 
face  reflecting  as  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are 
transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory."  3  Christ  teaches  that  the  temple  where  God 
is  truly  to  be  worshipped  is  within,  that  worship  is 
spiritual  and  consists  in  the  growth  of  the  individual 
will  into  the  likeness  of  the  perfect  Will  of  God. 

The  Christian  religion,  embodying  the  ideal  social 
conscience,  is  the  prime  force  in  human  progress. 
The  perfect  conscience  is  the  model  given  for  all  men, 
and  is  one  day  to  unite  them  into  one  society,  a  uni- 
versal brotherhood,  in  which  each  member  is  to  be 
self-governed,  by  the  law  of  God  written  on  his  heart. 
"  As  soon  as  every  man  is  apprised  of  the  Divine 
Presence  within  his  own  mind, —  is  apprised  that 
.  .  .  the  basis  of  duty,  the  order  of  society,  the 
power  of  character,  the  wealth  of  culture,  the  perfec- 
tion of  taste,  all  draw  their  essence  from  this  moral 
sentiment,  then  we  have  a  religion  that  exalts,  that 
commands  all  the  social  and  all  the  private  action.  " 
"  The  only  significance  of  life  consists  in  helping  to 
establish  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  and  this  can  be  done 
only  by  means  of  the  acknowledgment,  and  profession 
of  the  truth  by  each  one  of  us."  5 

The  nineteenth  century  was  the  age  of  great  scien- 

• 

1  Romans. 

2  Ephesians. 
8/7.  Corinthians. 
*  Emerson. 

5  Tolstoi,  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  Within  7ov. 


Conscience.  169 

tific  progress,  the  twentieth  century  needs  to  be  made 
the  period  of  a  correspondingly  great  moral  and  social 
advance.  "  Compared  with  our  astounding  progress 
in  physical  science  and  its  practical  application,  our 
system  of  government,  of  administrative  justice  and 
of  national  education,  and  our  entire  social  and  moral 
organization  remain  in  a  state  of  barbarism."  1  "  We 
think  our  civilization  near  its  meridian,  but  we  are 
yet  only  at  the  cock-crowing  and  the  morning  star. 
In  our  barbarous  society  the  influence  of  character  is 
in  its  infancy.  As  a  political  power,  as  the  rightful 
lord  who  is  to  tumble  all  rulers  from  their  chairs,  its 
presence  is  hardly  yet  suspected."  2  "  We  still  carry, 
sticking  to  us,  some  remains  of  the  preceding  inferior 
quadruped  organization.  .  .  .  The  age  of  the 
quadruped  is  to  go  out,  the  age  of  the  brain  and  of 
the  heart  is  to  come  in.  The  time  will  come  when  the 
evil  forms  we  have  known  can  no  more  be  organ- 
ized." 3  "  Trade  and  government  will  not  alone  be 
the  favored  aims  of  mankind,  but  every  useful,  every 
elegant  art,  every  exercise  of  imagination,  the  height 
of  reason,  the  noblest  affection,  the  purest  religion 
will  find  their  home  in  our  institutions,  and  write  our 
laws  for  the  benefit  of  men."  4  There  is  a  "  move- 
ment of  the  whole  race  forward  toward  goodness, 
toward  God,"  5  and  one  day  "  the  moral  sentiment 

1  Wallace. 

2  Emerson,  Politics. 

s  Emerson,  Conduct  of  Life,  Culture. 

*  Emerson,  The  Fortune  of  the  Republic. 

*  Phillips  Brooks. 


170  Conscience. 

will  write  the  law  of  the  land."  x  "  It  is  the  interior 
testimony  to  a  fairer  possibility  of  life  and  manners 
which  agitates  society  every  day  with  the  offer  of 
some  new  amendment.  If  we  would  make  more  strict 
inquiry  concerning  its  origin,  we  find  ourselves  rap- 
idly approaching  the  inner  boundaries  of  thought,  that 
term  where  speech  becomes  silence,  and  science  con- 
science. For  the  origin  of  all  reform  is  in  that  mys- 
terious fountain  of  the  moral  sentiment  in  man, 
which,  amidst  the  natural,  ever  contains  the  super- 
natural for  men.  That  is  new  and  creative.  That 
is  alive.  That  alone  can  make  a  man  other  than  he  is. 
Here  or  nowhere  resides  unbounded  energy,  un- 
bounded power."  2  "  The  history  of  mankind  inter- 
ests us  only  as  it  exhibits  a  steady  gain  of  truth  and 
right,  in  the  incessant  conflict  which  it  records  be- 
tween the  material  and  the  moral  nature."  3 

Society  in  its  early  stage  of  development  seeks  to 
secure  morality  by  external  government ;  its  motto  is 
the  Old  Law :  fear  to  do  evil ;  and  it  upholds  this  law 
through  external  force  in  the  form  of  government, 
based  on  justice  or  the  science  of  retribution.  Society 
needs  to  advance  to  a  greater  realization  of  the  New 
Law:  love  to  do  good;  the  science  of  charity  is  the 
attempt  to  "  overcome  evil  with  good."  Since  will 
concerns  actions,  deeds  and  not  bare  faith  are  the  true 
measure  of  our  religion ;  good  will  bears  the  fruit  of 


1  Emerson,  Politics. 

2  Emerson,  Lecture  on  The  Times. 

» Emerson,  West  India  Emancipation. 


Conscience.  171 

good  deeds  or  charity.  As  "  evil "  and  "  sin  "  arise 
only  as  a  result  of  human  society,  consisting  in  injury 
of  our  fellow-men,  so  "  right  "  and  "  goodness  "  are 
likewise  terms  that  have  meaning  only  in  human 
society,  and  consist  in  benefit  of  our  fellow-men,  that 
is,  in  charity.  Since  each  man  is  a  part  of  nature 
and  is  not  an  isolated  being,  he  has  relations  with  the 
other  parts.  His  right  relation  to  nature  as  a  whole 
can  find  outward  expression  only  through  right  rela- 
tion to  his  fellow-beings  as  creatures  of  the  one  Crea- 
tor. Love  is  the  great  bond  that  unites  the  God  of 
nature  and  all  His  creatures.  The  command  of  the 
Son  of  God  is  charity  to  our  fellow-beings :  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  * 

"  He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 

All  things  both  great  and  small; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all."  2 

Justice  relies  on  the  fear  of  punishment  as  the 
power  that  will  prevent  crime ;  and  this  is  often  inef- 
fectual. Charity  seeks  to  prevent  evil-doing  by  going 
to  its  root  and  removing  the  cause  of  evil,  through  re- 
form of  the  character  of  the  criminal  and  of  the  social 
conditions  that  are  in  part  to  blame.  Aristotle 
thought  that  the  criminal  class  was  largely  due  to  the 
lack  of  property.  The  criminal  is  unsocial ;  to  con- 

i  8.  Matthew. 

9  Coleridge,  The  Anoi$nt  Mariner. 


172  Conscience. 

vert  the  unsocial  into  the  social  being,  the  social  law 
or  conscience  must  be  awakened  and  developed  in 
him.  Destroy,  not  the  man  himself,  but  his  evil 
ways;  the  cure  of  evil  is  development  of  character. 
"  No  state  that  has  abolished  capital  punishment  has 
found  life  any  the  less  sacred  in  its  borders." 
"  Social  pathology  will  one  day  become  as  vast  a  sci- 
ence as  the  pathology  of  the  human  body."  * 

Charity's  chief  duty  is  the  solution  of  the  difficult 
problem,  poverty.  In  the  struggle  for  bread  the  fact 
is  that  men  are  unequal  in  strength ;  love  and  charity 
urge  that  the  strong  and  successful,  who  obtain  the 
lion's  share  of  the  world's  material  benefits,  should 
not  waste,  but  out  of  their  superfluity  give  to  those 
who  are  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  the  weaker 
or  the  more  unfortunate  members  of  society.  All 
men  require  the  material  supplies  as  the  fuel  that  sup- 
ports their  very  life-fire.  But  the  material  necessi- 
ties are  not  the  end  of  life,  but  the  means.  Those 
who  make  the  luxuries  given  by  wealth  their  chief 
concern,  seize  hold  only  of  the  means  of  life  and  lose 
their  life  itself,  spiritual  growth,  in  addition  to  wast- 
ing what  others  are  in  need  of  for  the  support  of  life. 
"  Is  not  the  life  more  than  the  food  ?  "  2  "  He  that 
hath  two  coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none ; 
and  he  that  hath  food,  let  him  do  likewise."  3  The 
earth  produces  enough  to  support  all  men ;  the  prob- 

i  Novicow,  Conscience  et  Volonte  Societies, 
^8.  Matthew. 
*8.  Luhe. 


Conscience.  173 

lem  is  one  not  of  production,  but  of  fair  distribution. 
As  competition  is  essential  to  industry,  and  inequal- 
ity of  property  the  inevitable  outcome  of  the  struggle 
for  bread,  charity  must  solve  the  problem  of  just  dis- 
tribution. "  Love  would  put  a  new  face  on  this 
weary  old  world  in  which  we  dwell  as  pagans  and 
enemies  too  long."  1 

"  Have  love !  not  love  alone  for  one, 

But  man  as  man  thy  brother  call, 
And  scatter,  like  the  circling  sun, 
Thy  charities  on  all."  2 

Charity  as  a  science  is  a  gigantic  undertaking,  and 
will  demand  the  highest  reason  and  sincerest  love  of 
men.  But  the  elements  themselves  will  aid  in  the 
task.  The  increasing  industrial  progress,  due  to  in- 
ventions that  enable  man  to  borrow  the  strength  of 
the  natural  forces,  makes  human  labor  lighter  and  at 
the  same  time  more  productive,  and  the  problem  of 
elevating  the  standard  of  living  for  the  masses  easier. 
"  The  triumphs  of  industrial  genius  have  created  con- 
ditions by  which  millions  can  live  in  comfort  and 
hope,  where  thousands  dwelt  in  poverty  and  despair." 
"  One  year,  God  lifted  the  curtain  from  a  hidden 
continent,  and  gave  His  children  a  whole  new  world 
in  which  to  carry  out  His  purposes."  3  "  Let  these 
wonders  work  for  honest  humanity,  for  the  poor,  for 
justice,  genius  and  the  public  good.  Let  us  realize 

*  Emerson,  Man,  the  Reformer, 

2  Schiller. 

3  Phillips  Brooks,    •  - 


174  Conscience. 

that  this  country,  the  last  found,  is  the  great  charity 
of  God  to  the  human  race."  1 

When  humanity  and  not  selfishness  becomes  the 
concern  of  the  nations,  the  cause  of  international 
strife  will  vanish,  and  peace  will  afford  opportunity 
for  progress  which  wars  now  destroy.  "  Learning 
and  art,  and  especially  religion,  weave  ties  that  make 
war  look  like  fratricide,  as  it  is.  And  as  all  history 
is  the  picture  of  war,  .  .  .  so  it  is  no  less  true 
that  it  is  the  record  of  the  mitigation  and  decline  of 
war."  2  "  As  soon  as  the  world  shall  sincerely  em- 
brace the  Christian  religion,  wars  will  cease  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  Then  shall  men  beat  their  swords 
into  ploughshares  and  their  spears  into  pruning- 
hooks,  and  learn  war  no  more."  3 

If  creation  will  culminate  in  the  spiritual  perfec- 
tion of  the  human  race,  what  will  be  the  future  of  the 
universe  when  this  aim  has  been  accomplished? 
Science  predicts  a  future  devoid  of  life ;  the  heavenly 
bodies  will  continue  to  radiate  their  heat  until  the 
energy  of  the  universe  becomes  equally  distributed 
through  space,  and  stagnation,  darkness  and  death  re- 
sult. Byron  thus  draws  the  picture : 

"  I  had  a  dream,  which  was  not  all  a  dream, 
The  bright  sun  was  extinguish'd,  and  the  stars 
Did  wander  darkling  in  the  eternal  space, 
Rayless,  and  pathless,  and  the  icy  earth 

1  Emerson,  The  Fortune  of  the  Republic. 

2  Emerson,  War. 

3  Alexander,  Evidences  of  Christianity. 


Conscience.  175 

Swung  blind  and  blackening  in  the  moonless  air; 
Morn  came  and  went  —  and  came,  and  brought  no  day. 

.     The  world  was  void, 

The  populous  and  the  powerful  was  a  lump, 
Seasonless,  herbless,  treeless,  manless,  lifeless, 
A  lump  of  death  —  a  chaos  of  hard  clay. 

The  winds  were  withered  in  the  stagnant  air, 
And  the  clouds  perish'd;  Darkness  had  no  need 
Of  aid  from  them  —  She  was  the  Universe." 


Light,  not  darkness,  gave  origin  to  the  universe. 
To  hold  the  theory  that  the  Light  will  continue 
through  future  ages  to  diffuse  through  space  until 
finally  a  uniform  distribution  results  and  an  era  of 
stagnation  and  death  follows  the  present  era  of  activ- 
ity and  life,  is  to  deny  that  there  is  a  rational  energy 
at  work  in  the  universe,  and  a  purpose  and  goal  to 
creation,  and  all  existence  then  becomes  meaningless. 
If  it  is  true  that  man  is  the  latest  chapter  of  the 
world's  evolution  and  that  creation's  purpose  culmi- 
nates in  the  perfection  of  his  free  will  through  right 
relations  with  the  Divine  Will,  thereby  giving  rise  to 
children  of  the  Creator  and  Father,  does  it  seem  logi- 
cal to  suppose  that  creation's  purpose  when  attained 
will  then  be  rendered  of  no  use,  by  the  death  of  these 
developed  individual  souls  ?  To  what  purpose  did  cos- 
mic evolution  form  the  biography  of  the  individual 
will,  if,  when  it  is  perfected,  it  perishes  ?  "  After 
science  begins,  belief  of  permanence  must  follow  in  a 
healthy  mind.  .  .  .  Everything  is  prospective, 
and  the  man  is  to  live  hereafter.  That  the  world  is 
for  his  education  is  the  only  sane  solution  of  the  enig- 


176  Conscience. 

ma."  1  "  The  future  will  be  worthy  of  the  past,"  2 
for  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should 
not  perish,  hut  have  eternal  life.  For  God  sent  not 
the  Son  into  the  world  to  judge  the  world ;  but  that  the 
world  should  be  saved  through  Him."  3  "  Jesus  spake 
unto  them,  saying,  I  am  the  light  of  the  world:  he 
that  followeth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  the  darkness,  but 
shall  have  the  light  of  life."  4 

"  As  the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  even  so  gave 
He  to  the  Son  also  to  have  life  in  Himself."  5  Dur- 
ing His  life  on  earth  Christ  was  transfigured  by  the 
light  of  heaven  that  the  disciples  might  have  a  sign 
of  the  nature  of  individual  resurrection :  transforma- 
tion into  the  eternal  substance  light.  The  last  ap- 
pearance of  the  risen  Christ,  before  He  ascended  to 
the  realm  of  eternal  light  beyond  space,  was  to  Paul. 
This  appearance  of  the  risen  Christ  as  white  light 
more  dazzling  and  glorious  than  the  noon-day  sun 
gives  man  assurance  of  individual  immortality,  of 
the  transformation  by  God  of  the  dependent,  mortal 
mind  into  the  eternal  light,  by  removal  from  space  to 
the  realm  of  Light  beyond. 

When  the  goal  of  creation,  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth,  has  been  attained,  the  light  now  diffused  in 
space  as  the  created  universe  will  again  be  concen- 

1  Emerson,  Immortality. 

2  Emerson,  New  England  Reformers. 
38.  John. 

*  8.  John. 

*  S.  John.  ...5  :!.4  , 


Conscience.  177 

trated  into  primordial  light  and  return  to  the  Light- 
realm  beyond  the  void  and  darkness.  "  The  day  of 
the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief,  in  the  which  the  heav- 
ens shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  heav- 
enly bodies  shall  be  dissolved  with  fervent  heat,  and 
the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be 
burned  up.  Seeing  that  these  things  are  thus  all  to 
be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be 
in  all  holy  living  and  godliness,  looking  for  and 
earnestly  desiring  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  by 
reason  of  which  the  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  the  heavenly  bodies  shall  melt  with  fer- 
vent heat  ?  But,  according  to  His  promise,  we  look 
for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness."  1 

"  No  more  the   rising  sun  shall  gild  the  morn, 
Nor  evening  Cynthia  fill  her  silver  horn; 
But  lost,  dissolved  in  thy  superior  rays, 
One  tide  of  glory,  one  unclouded  blaze 
Overflow  thy  courts;  the  Light  himself  shall  shine 
Reveal'd,  and  God's  eternal  day  be  thine! 
The  seas  shall  waste,  the  skies  in  smoke  decay, 
Rocks  fall  to  dust,  and  mountains  melt  away; 
But  fixed  his  word,  his  saving  power  remains ; 
Thy  realm  for  ever  lasts,  thy  own  Messiah  reigns."  2 

1/7.  Peter. 

2  Pope,  The  Messiah. 


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